Full of beans to raise funds!

Sep 27 2006 By Alison Dayani

THOUSANDS of Midlanders are hoping to brew up a very special treat for cancer sufferers through Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee Morning.

Schools, offices, community centres and housewives will be holding events on Friday to try to top last year's regional figure of £185,618.

Residents in Wellesley Gardens, Moseley, are turning their street into Coffee Close for the day with games and cakes.

And breast cancer victim Sue Jordan, who successfully battled for cancer drug Herceptin, will be supporting her local event at The Hardwick Arms, in Chester Road, Streetly.

Local companies have added their backing too with bakers Druckers donating free cakes to coffee mornings and Chiltern Railways holding the fastest event on land, with a coffee morning on its trains from Birmingham to London.

Hilary Carr at Barclays Bank, in Birmingham city centre, hopes to do as well as last year when her staff raised the most in the region of £2,343.

And Karren Brady will host an event at Birmingham City Football Club as the club's former goalkeeper Dave Latchford drops in for a coffee at the Irish Club, in Digbeth High Street.

Steve Dourass, spokesman for Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "We are thankful for every coffee morning for raising as little as £2 and more.

"It all contributes to our plan of helping to support people with cancer."

Some sessions in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support have already got under way and more than 800 pupils at Birmingham's largest junior school, Highfields Junior and Infants, in Highfield Road, Saltley, held their coffee morning last Friday with great success.

Cash raised is all pumped into Macmillan's services from funding Birmingham's 100 Macmillan nurses to grants for the sick and their families.