COFFEE mornings across Taunton raised thousands of pounds as people reached into their pockets for Macmillan cancer support.

Stephen Deacon, the store manager at Marks and Spencer’s in Taunton, said: “It went very well. We have raised about £1,300 over the final push over two weeks.

“We had an exercise bike donated to us and then people did half an hour each on the bike to raise money.”

The Marks and Spencer’s store also sold branded Macmillan products to help to the money raised, which totalled £3,000.

Stephen added: “I think the other side of it is that the Macmillan charity is close to a lot of people’s hearts. Both staff and customers can relate to Macmillan.

“Nearly 8,000 people in Bath and Somerset have been diagnosed with cancer each year. The facts speak for themselves.

Katherine Moore organised an independent coffee morning at Creech St Michael village hall, raising £1650.

Katherine, who held a second coffee morning in Crewkerne on the Saturday, said: “It was really good. It went really, really well. I would like to say thank you for my team and their help.”

Gary Edwards, clinical lead at Sherford Manor EMI Residential & EMI Nursing Care Home in Wyvern Road, Taunton, said: “It was very successful, we were very pleased with how the whole day went.

“After the coffee morning, we had a whole party for all the residents which had an Alice in Wonderland theme. We’re still counting but we think we have raised about £100.”

Meanwhile, the Bathpool Salon’s coffee morning managed to raise £267.40, and Ash Priors Village raised over £1100 with their Macmillan Coffee Morning.