MORE than 180 people raised £6,000 for Southend Hospital’s Keyhole Cancer appeal at a charity dinner.

The Boatyard in Old Leigh played host to the event, which was held to raise funds for a state-of-the-art keyhole surgery theatre at Southend Hospital, enabling once-major operations to be carried out via small incisions.

Sponsored by the Grosvenor Casino at the Park Inn Palace Hotel, Southend, the event included dinner, dancing and live entertainment, as well as an auction for two prizes – bagging a slot on the morning show of Radio Essex and an Arsenal FC experience. Tesco in Prince Avenue, Westcliff, and Choice Discount in Hadleigh supplied prizes, Echo editor Chris Hatton also donated two bottles of champagne. The Echo is a supporter of the appeal.

To help boost funds, the charity also had party-goers donate to have an attempt at a world record – the Jelly Bean Challenge.

The challenge involved sorting 30 jelly beans by colour into separate cups – while being timed and using chop sticks.

The challenge was intended to demonstrate the physical skill and manual dexterity required by surgeons when performing keyhole surgery.

Even though one of the winners of the challenge, James Wright, was a keyhole surgeon, he only just managed to break the 60 second barrier, a fair way off the 21.51 seconds world record.

Charity event manager Laura Mason said: “It was lovely to see the evening so well attended “We also saw a lot of new faces which was wonderful as word of the appeal is reaching new audiences.

“We hope everyone who attended had a great time. The room was buzzing.

“We would like to thank our sponsor Grovsenor Casino Southend and all of the local businesses who donated to the auction, raffle and flowers which helped us reach the fabulous total of £6,000 towards the appeal. We hope to see you all again next year!”