Fundraising group who have raised over £30,000 for cancer charity hosting first events in three years

A group of Peterborough friends, who have raised over £30,000 for charity over the last ten years, are hosting their first fundraising events since before the pandemic.

The group of seven friends, known as The Eye Lovelies, started fundraising for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity in 2012 – and they have been hosting coffee mornings and fundraising events ever since.

Donna Mckean Smith, Donna Nolan, Katie Roddis, Lindsay Short, Debbie Moss, Laura Sulsh and Gemma Rorison have together held seven events so far, and their 1920s-themed coffee morning and disco at Leeds Hall, in Eye, on September 30 will be their first events since 2019.

"We originally started them after doing a meal for all the girls as part of the Macmillan ‘Big Night In’,” Gemma Rorison, said.

"We thought, ‘we could do this for everybody’. We went to do our first one in 2012 and unfortunately one of the girls’ partner died two weeks before.

"He died of cancer, which made it even more important to go ahead with it and we’ve been donating ever since."

The coffee morning will be from 9.30am to 2.30pm, where there will be cakes, sandwiches a tombola and raffle, before the 1920s disco from 8pm through to 12pm.

“We used to be called ‘The Seven Sisters’, but someone in the village changed our name to The Eye Lovelies,” Gemma added.

“Two are cousins and we all went to Arthur Mellows Village College together. It’s one of those friendships that has been going on for years.

"We’ve all been affected by cancer. We lost one of the girls, who was close to the group, to cancer during Covid.

"We’ve raised over £30,000 in total and we’re really well-supported by the local community. This year, we’re auctioning-off a signed Liverpool shirt and two tickets to see Manchester City against Brighton.

"It has been a little bit harder because people have been struggling a bit more. We get a lot of support as well from the volunteer ladies at Macmillan Peterborough.”

You can donate to The Eye Lovelies and support Macmillan Cancer Support by clicking here.