A CHARITY that has raised more than £330,000 has celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Members of Teesdale Cancer Research UK held a celebration meal to mark three decades of raising money.

Among the two dozen volunteers at the Fox and Hounds in Cotherstone, there were four founder members - Vera Carter, Colette Jackson and Maureen Bainbridge, Brenda Thwaites, who are both still on the committee.

The group started fundraising in November 1974, following a Women's Institute Members' Night in Cotherstone.

Mrs Thwaites said: "We repeated the event for our husbands, who paid to come and see it.

"Then we had a coffee morning, but didn't know what to do with the proceeds we were accruing."

Cancer Research was suggested and the group was launched.

Ms Kay presented the group with a framed cheque for £336,788.14, the total it has raised over the past 30 years.

This year, the group has raised £30,350.91.