AN auction prize donated by football legend Matt Le Tissier raised over £3,500 to help cancer victims at the annual Dave Wellman Cancer Trust gala ball at Hedge End.

The visit to the popular Sky TV Soccer Saturday studio to watch the programme filmed live and meet Matt and his fellow presenters was just one of several items, including diamond jewellery from Parkhouse, that together raised over £14,000 for the charity that donates hundreds of thousands of pounds each year towards fighting cancer.

A guitar signed by members of Take That went for £1,500, and another signed by The Rolling Stones raised a further £2,000 at the event staged at the Botleigh Grange Hotel.

Guests included Le Tiss and fellow football legends Lawrie McMenemy and Franny Benali, as well as TV personalities Steven Pinder and A Place in the Sun presenter Amanda Lamb who was unveiled as the charity’s latest patron.

The Winter Wonderland-themed gala dinner was organised by Tina Wellman-Hawke and family members, and is expected to have raised tens of thousands of pounds.

An appeal for volunteers to pledge to raise at least £500 each in the coming year saw a rush of applicants, with management at the Botleigh Grange Hotel and Spa, who had donated prizes for the event and hosted a drinks reception for guests, presenting the first cheque on the evening itself.