CHARITABLE Sidmouth coffee drinkers helped make Macmillan Cancer Support’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning a success.

A queue had formed outside the Methodist Church Hall before the doors opened for the event on Friday. Extra tables had to be set up as more visitors arrived.

The morning raised �439.14 toward Macmillan’s �130,000 target. Celia Monck and Wally Cotgrave’s busking outside the hall raised �150 alone.

Joyce Burnham, Macmillan’s Sidmouth branch chairman, said attendance exceeded the committee’s expectations.

“We’ve beaten previous years’ figures easily, so thank you to everyone who came along,” she said. “The home-made cakes on offer attracted lots of comments and had people coming back for more.”

This was Sidmouth’s main coffee morning, with others held at The Kingswood and Devoran Hotel and St Teresa’s Hall. More than 900 were held across Devon, with Macmillan estimating that 50,000 people took part.

Calvin Lovelock, Macmillan’s fundraising manager in Devon, said: “It’s an event that really seems to capture the interest of all kinds of groups, from large UK-wide businesses, to individuals and small community organisations. Thanks to everyone who took part – and there are still a number of events still to take place!”