WHAT began as a coffee morning on June 23, ended up as an amazing day that raised almost £8,000 for FORCE cancer support and Cheriton Bishop Surgery equipment fund.

This was the second such event, the first was two years ago when a coffee morning was planned to be held on the patio in front of the surgery to support Macmillan Cancer.

Julia Mercer, Practice Manager for the Cheriton Bishop and Teign Valley Practice explained: "As we spoke to more patients and neighbours in the village the idea started to grow until our plans for a Fun Day had taken over the surgery waiting room, the village hall, car park and two adjoining neighbouring farmer’s fields.

"We held the coffee morning in the village hall. A wonderful art competition with the local primary schools had more than 400 entries.

"The car park and fields were filled with a variety of stalls, tombola, children’s games and entertainment, wonderful live music all day and a grand draw.

"Local people were so generous both with their efforts, donations and time, it amazed and took our breath away. Our first ever attempt at anything like this raised almost £7,000 for Macmillan in Devon and the surgery medical equipment fund."

Julia continued: "Here we are two years on and local support has again been totally wonderful and between us all we have raised a staggering £8,000.

"The grand draw alone raised £3,600 which has been given to Acorn Community Support and the remainder of the money raised was evenly split between FORCE in Exeter and the Surgery Medical Equipment Fund.

"We are so pleased and proud that we were able to give this support and also delighted to have had such an amazing happy day with our community," she said.