IPSWICH/FELIXSTOWE/OTLEY: Coffee and cake took centre stage across the county as hundreds of people took part in a cancer charity fundraiser.

The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning saw dozens of clubs, workplaces, schools and societies get together for cake and a cup of tea or coffee, with proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support.

The charity is expecting to raise around �110,000 from yesterday’s event in Suffolk alone, in its biggest single fundraiser of the year, which would be an increase on the �90,000 raised last year.

Ipswich Building Society has contributed nearly �350 from its coffee morning, with the help of cakes made by members of the Women’s Institute.

Assistant branch manager Gail Miller said: “It’s nice to sit down and have a cup of tea, and some nice homemade cakes. It’s become a regular fixture in our calendar.

“Obviously we have got staff and members who have been touched in some way by cancer, and a lot of people who came in to the coffee morning told us stories of their relatives and friends who have had help from Macmillan nurses, who have stayed through the night with them and gone the extra mile.

“It’s really dear to people’s hearts.”

Some of the other Ipswich events included tea and cake at St Lawrence’s Centre in Dial Lane, and a coffee morning at Marks and Spencer in Westgate Street, where visitors could also enter a raffle to win a signed Ipswich Town shirt, along with a host of other shops, businesses and social clubs who put on their own events.

Felixstowe mayor Doreen Savage also invited the town to join her for a tea or coffee yesterday at the town hall and she was thrilled with how much money was raised.

“It was a very pleasant morning and everything went swimmingly – and it was a beautiful day. I hope it will become a tradition.”

Meanwhile pupils at Felixstowe Academy held their own events, raising �200 at the Maidstone campus and �160 at Deben.

Students at Otley College also got in on the action, raising �100 for the charity.

Kathryn Crossland, student welfare co-ordinator, said: “We are delighted to support the Macmillan coffee morning – it’s great to get students, staff and visitors together.”

n What did you do at your coffee morning? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or you can e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk