Sisiters Mollie and Hattie Philpott hosted their own tea party to raise money for Marie Curie in memory of their mum, Vicky, who died four months ago.

Mrs Philpott, 48, died on March 1 and her daughters decided they wanted to help an organisation similar to those that helped her.

Mollie, 10, said: “I had a tea party last year, I wanted to do one again this year and daddy said it would be nice to do it in memory of mummy.”

Hattie, nine, said: “We went over to someone’s house who raised money for Marie Curie and Molly decided she wanted to raise money for them to, because mummy had breast cancer.

“We had to buy lots of tea, make cakes and buy lots of raffle prizes.”

The girls, who live in Aubrey Close and go to St Peter’s Junior School, invited friends and family to the event and had so many responses to the invites, which they designed themselves, that the party had to be relocated to their front garden.

Their father Ian said: “I was immensely proud of Mollie and Hattie for organising this off their own backs in memory of Vicky.

“Originally the party was going to be held in our house but there were 59 guests – I was expecting about 20.

“I went out and bought a party tent, which is about four times the size of a gazebo, and we had that and a gazebo up in the front garden to shelter everybody from the blazing heat.”

Guests could enjoy a glass of Pimms or a cup of tea or coffee, have a temporary tattoo, try the Marie Curie quiz and guess the number of sweets in a jar or the weight of a cake.

The girls raised £525.23 for the charity and Marie Curie Cancer Care is encouraging others to hold tea parties this month.

To register, call 0845 0524184 or visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/ teaparty