THOUSANDS of Hampshire residents put the kettle on for charity as they took part in the World's Biggest Coffee Morning.

It's the biggest fundraising event of the year for Macmillan Cancer and saw more than 1,150 groups, families, businesses and organisations across Hampshire raise their mugs in support.

The event is one of the biggest in the UK with coffee lovers in Hampshire raising £174,000 last year.

Backed by the Daily Echo, the event, which is now in its 16th year, hopes to raise millions of pounds across the country to help support cancer victims and their families.

At Bitterne Conservative Club, Dean Road, Southampton, they staged their third coffee morning yesterday in memory of the club's previous chairman, Norman Ballard, pictured.

Norman started the coffee morning at the club in 2004 when he was terminally ill with cancer, but tragically died two weeks after the first event in October 2004.

More than 200 people turned up at the club yesterday hoping to raise more than the £4,743 they raised last year.

Secretaries at Linden Homes Southern, in Totton, also got the cups and saucers out yesterday as part of a number of events this month including charging for the staff car park, a teddy-bear napping and sponsoring a member of staff to paint her car with butterflies.

They are on target to raise £5,000 after company bosses agreed to double their final amount.

Staff at the Nationwide Building Society in Shirley, Southampton, opened their doors to more than 250 coffee loving customers and were hoping to raise £2,000 after putting on a raffle in the store yesterday.

Paul Morgan, a fundraising manager for Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Thank you to everybody from the fundraising teams in Hampshire.

"The money will go towards our Hampshire appeal for £756,000 which is distributed between our three main cancer treatment centres including one based at Southampton General Hospital."

There is still time to hold a coffee morning, for more information