RAISE a glass of G and T for a good cause.

The Dorchester and District Fundraising Group for Marie Curie will be hosting an event next month to help them raise funds for the work the charity does.

They will be hosting a G and T party at the Dorset Wine Company at Queen Mother Square on Poundbury, opposite Waitrose.

The event will be held on Friday, July 1, at 7 pm. Those attending will be able to taste a good selection of craft gins.

In the last few years the artisan gin market has been booming with new stills all around the UK producing artisan gin concoctions.

The dominant flavouring of juniper is supplemented by the addition of botanicals such as coriander, lemon or lime, angelica and orris root.

Gin distillers are creating their own distinctive flavourings: using cucumber in Hendricks, fresh fruits and vanilla in Siblings Gin and elderberries, marsh samphire and gorse flowers in Dorset’s very own Conker Gin.

In order to capture the full aroma of the chosen tipple, it’s recommended that gin should be drunk out of balloon shaped glasses, rather than the traditional tumbler.

Gin originally started out as a herbal medicine in the Middle Ages.

Tickets to the event cost £15 and are available by contacting Richard Crosby of Marie Curie on 07879 692369 or via email richard.crosby2@me.com.