A FUNDRAISING group for Bradford’s Marie Curie hospice had to get more tables out when a tea party proved a success.

The charity’s Shipley fundraising group held its third annual Blooming Great Tea Party yesterday - the first time the event has been open to the public rather than being held in a member’s house.

The two-hour fundraiser, at Saltaire Methodist Church, raised £200 for the hospice, enough to provide ten hours of care.

One of the organisers, Anne-Marie Dooley, said she had been inspired to get involved in the group to honour the memory of her late father, who died from cancer and had received help from a similar charity in Ireland.

She said the group’s first public tea party had been such a success, they were now planning a bigger and better event for next year.

She said: “I think maybe the bad weather, in some respects, did help us because a lot of people, instead of going out on hill walks, came in, sat down and had a nice cuppa.”