Three hours of hard work buttering and delivering scones, topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, paid off for the Rossendale branch of Save The Children by raising a record £1,750.

The annual ‘Strawberry Delight Day’ saw 30 volunteers, committee members and friends, take over Rawtenstall Conservative Club as their operations base to prepare the plates of delicious food which were then delivered to nearly 600 eager customers in shops, schools and offices in and around Rawtenstall in time for lunch.

Eroica Kelly, who organises the annual event said “Our committee members deliver letters to potential ‘Strawberry Delighters’ two weeks in advance and then return to collect orders. This all takes time, but the real effort is on the day. As we’ve been doing this for over 20 years, though, we work together as a team, each knowing our allocated job, and just get on with it until we’ve finished. Then we can enjoy our own plateful”

The main sponsor this year was ‘Antony & Patricia Hairdressing and Bosun’s Barbers’ in Bank Street, Rawtenstall, and the cream was donated by farmer Arthur England from Darwen, who has provided the cream for many years. Eroica continued “This year we were lucky enough to have two generous sponsors who covered all our costs, so everything was profit. This meant that although sales were down slightly this year we still raised more than in previous years.”