WEST FIFERS spent a leisurely afternoon munching their way through Marie Curie's Blooming Great Tea Party in Dalgety Bay on Saturday.

The annual event, organised by Sybil Cobban, 75, saw guests enjoying an old-fashioned afternoon tea, featuring a range of baked goodies, at Dalgety Parish Church.

Sybil and her team of helpers have raised more than £38,000 for the cancer charity in the last 12 years by hosting garden parties at her Inchview Gardens home, organising concerts, undertaking a sponsored walk and a hill climb and holding the Blooming Great Tea Party.

Her fund-raising has been in thanks for the care her late husband, Hamish, who died in 2003, received from Marie Curie nurses.

Sybil smiled: “When I finished doing the garden parties after seven years, the locals were disappointed that they had ended, so I decided to carry on and do the Blooming Great Tea Party in the church hall.

“This year's event was really good, although it wasn't as busy as last year as a lot of people were away at the weekend. We made £400.

“It was a proper afternoon tea with cake stands and everyone chatting away. It was really good.

“I've had the same team of helpers for the last 12 years and they've been absolutely fantastic.

“Thanks to Marie Curie, my husband got his wish to die at home and I will never forget them.”

Sybil's fund-raising efforts were also recognised when she was invited to a reception, celebrating 30 years of Marie Curie's Great Daffodil Appeal, hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House recently.

She beamed: “He asked where I was from and when I said Dalgety Bay, he said: 'I know where that is – it's along the road from Rosyth Dockyard!'

“I felt so honoured and it was such a surprise to be invited.”