FORMER England international footballer Gary Lineker yesterday capped a visit to Scotland by officially opening the country's first purpose-built ''home from home'' facility run by the charity Cancer and Leukaemia in Children, writes Raymond Duncan.

The event in Edinburgh had a special significance for the BBC sports presenter, as one of his four sons, George, was born with leukaemia.

The six-and-a-half-year-old was a patient at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital under consultant Dr Hamish Wallace, who now heads the children's cancer unit at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.

The new Clic facility, in Hatton Place close to the hospital, has been funded by North British Hotels Trust.

The home, the seventh in the UK, can accommodate up to six families who would otherwise have to spend nights sleeping in hospital corridors or in hotels.

Clic, which has helped more than 400 families in the past year with direct financial aid, also funds a childhood cancer research laboratory.

Mr Lineker described the new facility as ''a godsend'' for families of children receiving treatment.

''It will help make their lives a lot easier,'' said the ex-footballer, who recalled the difficulties his family went through when George was a patient at Great Ormond Street.

''We were lucky because we lived not too far from the hospital, but clearly there are lots of people who are not in that situation.''