A FAMOUS family firm is celebrating its best year for fund-raising yet.

Bettys and Taylors runs a chain of six café tea rooms in North Yorkshire and every year raises finds for charity.

And this year they have presented almost £80,000 to a wealth of local good causes.

Money was collected through skydiving, a sponsored silence, selling ready meals, mountain-climbing and growing beards among many other events.

And each sum was matched pound-for-pound by the business from its Five Per Cent Fund which every year gives back a percentage of the firm’s profits to the community.

Representatives from the Yorkshire charities selected by staff joined the firm’s charity co-ordinators at a celebration tea party held at the Cookery School in Harrogate.

And Marian Smith and Amanda Robinson from the tea rooms in Northallerton presented their branch’s cheque to Elaine Dunning for Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice.

The firm’s community projects officer Sarah McKee said: "We’ve been supporting Yorkshire good causes for over 25 years but this year we’ve raised more funds than ever before thanks to the hard work and commitment of our warm-hearted staff."

Other charities to benefit included the Harrogate Homeless Project, the Alzheimer’s Society, the Deanne Gee Memorial Fund, St Leonard’s Hospice, Open Country and St Michael’s Hospice.