THE ORGANISER of a charity Christmas fair is “thrilled” after local residents dug deep to raise more than �7,600 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Kathryn Crossley, of St Albans, said that volunteers sold more than 1,000 programmes for last Wednesday’s fair at the Noke Thistle Hotel.

The “Doing it for Charity” event, organised by local women who have lost friends and loves ones to cancer, offered visitors 40 stands of festive food, gifts and accessories, with all profits going to Macmillan.

Kathryn said: “It was extremely crowded. I am delighted that so many people attended the event in support of such a worthy cause.

“I would very much like to thank our sponsors who gave ‘goody bags’ for our guests, all the local St Albans businesses for giving such wonderful raffle prizes, our professional entertainers who sang to our guests, all of our volunteers and especially the ‘doing it for charity’ team, Chris Higgs, Simone Deans, Diana Wrigley and Amanda Allen for their dedication and hard work over the last eight months.

“The total funds raised from the three ‘doing it for charity’ events in 2010 in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support is just over �8,800.”

A cheque presentation ceremony being held tomorrow, Friday, November 26, will be attended by St Albans Mayor Maxine Crawley and Avril Foster, chair of Macmillan Cancer Support St Albans District.