HAMPSHIRE'S coffee drinkers have raised around £500,000 for cancer sufferers.

Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event has proved a huge success in the county and is expected to smash last year’s fundraising total by £100,000.

More than two thousand companies, community centres, libraries and businesses took part to raise cash for people affected by cancer.

It is Macmillan Cancer Support’s biggest fundraising event of the year and everyone was determined to beat last year’s £400,000 total to help fund an extension to the information and support centre at Southampton General Hospital.

The money will also be used to support four Macmillan GPs to educate people on early diagnosis and improve support during and after treatment.

Bitterne Conservative Club has been hosting coffee mornings for 11 years in memory of chairman Norman Ballard, who died from cancer in 2004.

Its treasurer Jim Gauld said: “The coffee morning was Norman’s last project. Since then we have raised more than £45,000 and are proud to have done it in memory of such a good man.”

Louise Lamb, from Marks & Spencer in Hedge End, kept customers entertained with her team dressed up as cowboys and Indians.

She added: “The coffee morning provides a great excuse to put your feet up and enjoy a cuppa and a slice of cake all in aid of a truly worthwhile charity, which affects so many of us.”

The event was the climax to a month’s worth of fundraising at the branch, which has raised £5,000 for the charity.

Students and staff at St Mary’s College in Bitterne Park took part in a huge ice bucket challenge for the charity, raising £800.

Daily Echo staff also tucked into cakes, raising £102.