THOUSANDS of coffee mornings held in Dorset have helped to raise £250,000 to help in the battle against cancer.

More than 2,700 coffee mornings were held across Dorset in a UK-wide charity event last year raising a massive £250,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Local host Kirsten Ritchie, from Melcombe Bingham near Ansty, raised an incredible £1,700 from her first time hosting a coffee morning.

She said: “I didn’t know whether we’d have five or 50 people walk through the door, but on the day we had just over 200.

“What really got me was people’s generosity. The community really rallied together.

“People gave me raffle prizes from calendars to carvery meals, cinema tickets, wine and vouchers.

“I’ve lived in my village for 10 years and people turned up who I’d never met before.

“The village hall was packed and buzzing.

“An old man said he’d saved £8 in change for me.

“It was brilliant. I’ve never done anything like that before and thought I’d be lucky to get £300.”

Kirsten’s cousin, Sally, sadly passed away in October after breast cancer had spread to her lung, but she had help from the Dorset Macmillan CAB service based in Dorchester.

Since the service was set up in 2010, it has helped almost 1,700 people affected by cancer across Dorset receive more than £6.3million in unclaimed benefits and grants.

Mags Williams, Macmillan project coordinator at the service, said: “When you get a cancer diagnosis, money isn’t one of the first things you think about.

“It’s thanks to fundraisers like Kirsten that we can continue supporting local people affected by cancer.”