Ewan McGregor with Morag Rhodes (left) from Chas and Pringle's Kim Winser

McGregor, the face of the Pringle knitwear company, has launched an appeal aimed at encouraging people to buy special �45 scarves.

All profits will go to the Children's Hospice Association Scotland (Chas). It operates the Rachel House hospice in Kinross for terminally ill children.

Fundraisers are building a second unit, Robin House, at Balloch in West Dunbartonshire.

McGregor, a regular visitor to eight-bed Rachel House, has supported the charity for the past seven years and has helped to raise nearly �100m for the second hospice, which also has eight beds..

Rachel House is at the moment Scotland's only children's hospice.

People have a preconceived idea that a hospice will be grim and awful but the reality is very different Ewan McGregor

He said: "I'm a parent myself so I can understand how scary it must be to have a child who is ill. The children in Rachel House are extraordinarily courageous.

"People have a preconceived idea that a hospice will be grim and awful but the reality is very different. The place is full of laughter.

The star, whose family home is in Perthshire, added: "It's only after I get home that it upsets me when I think about what they are going through. But I am always struck by how brave the children are, and their families too."

Serious illness

Chas chief executive Agnes Malone said: "On behalf of the children, their families and the care team I can only say how grateful we all are."

Full planning permission for Robin House was granted by the Scottish Parliament last year and the hospice is scheduled to open this summer.

The go-ahead followed an outcry when an official recommended permission be refused because the site lay within the new Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.