A BIG HEARTED and energetic crowd of Hartlebury folk have raised £8,000 for Kemp Hospice.

The 33 players and supporters of the village's Torton Football Club have raised the money in less than a year with an array of imaginative and finely tuned fundraising schemes.

The highlight of these was the summer ball held in a chandelier bedecked marquee at Bowbrook School in Hartlebury last July, which raised £4,000.

The group's fund raising committee member, Richard Maughan, said: "The event was a huge success enjoyed by 330 people. It was all thanks to fantastic organisation and hard work by such people as Tina Cresswell, who painstakingly made all 40 of the table decorations, and the school management, who let us use all its facilities free."

The ball was followed in September with a golf day, organised by group member, Maurice Jordan, at Kidderminster Golf Club, when 130 players and supporters came from as far afield as Hampshire and helped raise another £4,000.

Mr Maughan said The group, based at Hartlebury Sports and Social Club, had been raising funds for Kemp Hospice for eight years. "We have some great fun," he said.

A street collection held in aid of the hospice last November raised £653.52.