Residents have been thanked by the British Heart Foundation for helping Wiltshire raise £617,000 with a ‘science café’ at its Chippenham store.

The Chippenham British Heart Foundation (BHF) Furniture and Electrical Store, which helped the town raise £105,700, offered tea, cake and science on Tuesday.

Dr Andrea Caporali, a BHF research fellow at the University of Bristol, attended and answered questions about how the funds raised in BHF shops go towards vital research.

The event was held to thank the community for volunteering hours, donations and purchases that helped fund equipment and patient care, including an ECG machine and ultrasound machine for a Wiltshire GP and hospital.

BHF area manager Ceri Winter said: “The generosity of people in Chippenham has been astonishing and we want to thank every single person who has joined us in the fight against heart disease.

“Quite often people don’t realise that the sofa they donate to the Chippenham store actually raises vital funds and helps pay for anything from an echo machine in the local hospital to a community heart support group.

“We couldn’t fund this lifesaving equipment or research in Chippenham if it wasn’t for the community.”

The Chippenham BHF Furniture and Electrical Store, in New Road, opened in March last year and employs three members of staff and 13 volunteers.

Store manager Lorraine Cox said: “The talk was very informative; it’s nice to know how the BHF supports researchers and makes these differences.

“From when we opened our stock has been very good; Chippenham people are very generous in what they give.”

BHF shops sell 90,000 items every day and have more than 20,000 volunteers. In the past financial year they raised more than £31m to help fight heart disease.

For more information on BHF shops, visit bhf.org.uk/ shops