A SPECIAL cream tea event to raise money for the Cots for Tots Appeal was held at Lewannick Village Hall recently, raising £1,183.85, writes David Sillifant.

The Cots for Tots Appeal is a special care baby charity based at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol for sick and prematurely born babies.

The money from the charity goes towards giving parents free accomodation to be able to spend as much time as needed with their children, something organisers, Pete and Sue Ingerson, know about first hand.

Earlier this year, their youngest daughter, Lucy Williams, and her husband Allan, were forced to use the facility when their daughter Sophie needed life-saving surgery when she was born.

Thankfully, Sophie is now back to full fitness, and Pete and Sue thought that it was time to say thank you for their brilliant work in keeping their granddaughter alive.

Sue said: “We didn’t know much about it until early this year when our youngest daughter’s baby was critically ill.

“Due to the Cots for Tots Appeal, they were given free accomodation at the Cots for Tots House for six weeks just across the road, which was such an amazing lifeline for them.

“Without that, they wouldn’t have been able to spend so much time with Sophie as they quite simply wouldn’t have been able to afford the accomodation for so many weeks.

“So when we were deciding what charity to support, we felt that we wanted to give something back.”

And give something back they did. Without a particular target in mind, Pete and Sue set about organising the day.

With free entry, a cream tea, cake stall, bric-a-brac stall and a raffle were on offer, which all proved to be popular.

Sue continued: “The hall was flat out. We sold between 80 and 90 cream teas while over 100 attended which was brilliant.

“We had great support from our friends and the local community and even some family members came down from as far as Bristol and Wales.

“Everyone said it was a really enjoyable afternoon so we’re really pleased that we did it, but most importantly we’ve raised lots of money for the appeal which is the main thing.”

As well as the cream tea event, Sue and Pete have set up a Just Giving page online that has already raised over £550 and will keep going for a while longer yet.

If you feel like you would like to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Pete-sue-Ingerson