The regular Saturday coffee morning at the Methodist Church Hall in Guisborough was dedicated to raising funds for the victims of the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and northern Syria.

Money from the extended event, run by the Bridge organisation, will go to the national Disasters Appeal Committee (DEC) appeal.

It was organised by Joanna O’Neill and her family, supported by volunteers and donors, who cooked, cleaned and washed up to support the event.

Joanna said: “I wanted to help those people who wanted help in Turkey and north Syria. So, myself and Dorothy Brown, a member of the Methodist Church, decided to do it.

"We got some volunteers then we put it all over social media, and literally the whole town came out and supported us. We had so many donations of food, cake, everything you could think of, we were overwhelmed and it will show in the takings at the end of the day. We’re going to do an online raffle next week.”

She added: “It hasn’t cost us anything. Everybody’s donated everything. Bacon, milk, coffee, everything you see here. We’ve had some monetary donations, quite a few hundred pounds before we’d even opened the door, this morning. We’ve really done well and the community has come out and supported us.”

The event was also supported by several stallholders who opened up jewellery and fancy goods stalls around the hall. By Sunday, more than £2,000 had been raised with more donations still coming in.

Meanwhile last Wednesday, the Brickyard Bakery in Guisborough removed all the usual prices from its goods and asked for donations to the earthquake appeal instead of individual payment.