Cuppas of cheer for charity (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Cuppas of cheer for charity

Tim Steed, Gloria Steed, Sheila Sims, Jean Collens, Sue Kingsbury, Barbara Munroe and Eunice Pearce enjoy the coffee morning at Westbrook (17404/1)FRIDAY could possibly have been the busiest day of the year for Wiltshire's kettles as hundreds of thirsty people sipped brews in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief.

The annual World's Biggest Coffee Morning the charity's flagship event raised £5.4 million last year to help change the lives of people living with cancer.

Across the county friends, colleagues and neighbours stopped for a steaming cuppa and donated a cash to Macmillan.

In Chippenham, Mayor John Scragg joined staff and partners at Wood Awdry and Ford in St Mary's Street. They raised £200.

Organiser Shirley Anderson said dozens of cups of coffee were downed and homemade cakes whizzed off the shelves.

"It was a very good spread," she said. "The mayor stayed for a couple of hours and we had lots of people popping in off the street.

"Some were clients and others were supporting people they knew who had been bereaved by cancer."

Churchwarden at St Andrew's Church, Peggy Taylor, raised £350 at her coffee morning last Wednesday.

Nearly 50 people attended and Mrs Taylor, 75, said she was delighted with the support.

"It was fantastic," she said. "I've got such a lovely lot of followers. It's a very important cause and that's why you get the support."

Bromham resident Gloria Steed held a coffee morning as well as competitions, a bring and buy sale and raffle and raised £1,404 for Macmillan Cancer Relief.

Mrs Steed, who raised £1,210 last year for the charity from the same event, said around 140 people visited for the coffee morning and she was grateful to everyone who contributed.

At Avonmead Care Home in Devizes dozens of cups of coffee were sold and £257 was raised.

A coffee morning held at the Wharf Rooms in Couch Lane, Devizes, raised £120. Organiser Barbara Krauss said the amount raised was slightly down on last year.

Dozens of businesses and organisations across the Swindon area joined in the coffee mornings.

Staff at the headquarters of the Nationwide Building Society raised more than £2,000 in just a few hours with a coffee and cake sale.

Steve Cowdry, spokesman for the firm said: "We have had a fantastic response for this very worthwhile cause from all the staff here at Nationwide House. People have been queuing outside for their coffee and cakes.

Fellow Macmillan supporters npower based in Windmill Hill Business Park were able to enjoy a bit of live music from their company band The Electric Blues - to go with their coffee and cakes.

Crumps the butchers in Wootton Bassett is a stalwart fundraiser for the Swindon Cancer Appeal and raised more than £500 with its own coffee morning.

Keith Crump, who used to run the butchers' said: "It's been a pretty good day, the weather hasn't been ideal but we still had plenty of people coming along to raise money for Macmillan."

Staff at the 2A Restaurant in Malmesbury raised £118.60 for Macmillan by holding a coffee morning last Friday. A total of 26 people patronised the event between 9am and 11am.

And to make the morning more interesting townspeople were given the chance to win a bottle of wine by judging the number of coffee beans in a wine glass.

Restaurant owner Philip Gilder said people were very generous.

He said: "We had people come in off the street and give us money. It is the first time we got involved with Macmillan and we will get involved next year."

Graziella Campisano, Swindon Cancer Appeal manager said: "Last year there were 360 coffee morning events across Wiltshire raising £50,000 and this year there have been around 500 events so we are looking forward to seeing how much we have raised."

More photographs appear in this week's Gazette & Herald