A SUMMER fundraiser that has been backed by a Dorset chef is celebrating a sweet success after it raised more than £60,000 for a children’s charity.

Action Medical Research’s (AMR) ‘cream-teas-in-a-box’ fundraiser was brought back this summer for a second year following its success the previous year.

Of the thousands of boxes sold, 173 Action Cream Teas were supplied- 10 to Weymouth, 147 to Poole, 16 to Gillingham and 10 to Bournemouth.

The people of Dorset were among thousands of people across the UK who took a break and enjoyed a tea break when their boxes arrived at their door.

Lesley Waters, who runs her cookery school at Abbots Hill in Halstock first supported the fundraiser last year. She gave her support to it again this year.

Speaking last month before the fundraiser was set to be launched, she said: “I’m delighted to be supporting Action Medical Research’s Cream Teas because, quite simply, they taste delicious.

In the final count up of the charity’s work over the past couple of months, AMR has raised more than £60,000 for the charity that work to save and change the lives of babies and children.

With the help of its supporters, AMR has played role in many medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952, from the development of the first UK polio vaccines to the use of ultrasound in pregnancy.

Money raised by the charity has also funded research around stillbirth, epilepsy, meningitis, cerebral palsy and brain cancer, as well as some rare and distressing conditions that severely affect children.

The charity sent out more than 10,370 cream teas to homes, schools and workplaces in two nationwide deliveries this summer.

After its first dispatch on June 18 was such a triumph, the scheme was repeated on August 7.

In total, the children’s charity sent out 20,740 scones, 10,370 Yorkshire teabags, 871kg of Tiptree strawberry jam and 415kg of Rodda's Cornish Clotted Cream with 10,370 knife, serviettes and thank you notes.

Tracey Edwards, Action’s Cream Tea events manager said: “We’re delighted that so many people got together over the summer to put the kettle on and enjoy our delicious cream teas, and at the same time help us to raise thousands of pounds to save and change the lives of sick babies and children.

“We’re hugely grateful to the army of volunteers who helped us painstakingly pack hundreds and hundreds of boxes, thanks to them we have hugely increased the number of cream teas which we sent out last year when we ran the national delivery scheme for the first time.”

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E: tanita.matthews@dorsetecho.co.uk

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