A CHEESE and wine evening held at Willowbed Hall in Chickerell has raised in excess of £3,700 for the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust.

The fundraising event, which was organised as part of Echo reporter Adam Summers, his father John and brother Jonathon's London Marathon bid, attracted more than 150 guests and proved a fantastic evening.

A raffle with more than 50 prizes that were donated by local and national businesses and an auction that included signed sporting memorabilia took place and the amount of money raised was overwhelming, particularly for event organiser and John's sister Rita Wilson.

Mrs Wilson said: "The money we raised exceeded all expectations and I would like to thank everyone who helped make it such an enjoyable occasion.

"The way everyone pulled together, both family and friends, was what made it such a great success.

"I would also like to thank all those people who came and gave so generously on the night and to all those who donated prizes and auction items. It was very much appreciated."

Adam, John and Jonathon have so far raised over £5,000 for Weldmar but they are refusing to stop there.

John said: "When we took on the challenge of the London Marathon and the responsibility of making as much money as we can for Weldmar we knew the training would be hard but raising the money is just as difficult and time consuming.

"It was then that we truly realised how lucky we were to have such great family and friends who have supported us right from the beginning. So I would like to thank everyone who has helped us through the past few weeks, especially Rita who deserves a special thank you for the endless hours of hard work she put in to ensure the event was such a huge success.

"It is great that we have raised in excess of £5,000 already but we still want to do more than that and we are planning to hold a couple more events soon."

Anyone wishing to sponsor the trio can do so by visiting justgiving.com/summers08