FOOD and friendship are key to fundraising for a new group launching in Hartford.

St Luke’s Hospice is appealing for residents to join an informal ‘Friends of St Luke’s’ group.

Rhys Edwards, community and corporate fundraiser for the Winsford-based hospice, said: “We’re putting a call out to anyone else who would like to join the friends group.

“There’s no commitment in a friends group, it’s about doing whatever you want and when you want.

“There’s no set times to meet.

“We have support groups out and about in Holmes Chapel, Tarporley and Nantwich but we don’t have them in the Northwich area.”

One of the founding members is Dorothy Bell, whose husband was cared for at the hospice before he died last year.

“He had wonderful care at St Luke’s so I like to do as much as possible for them,” she said.

One of the first events she organised was a Pampered Chef party at Barnton Memorial Hall, which raised more than £400.

This was hosted by Krysia Rose, who demonstrated a host of cooking equipment while making a range of tasty treats for guests.

Dorothy said: “My thanks go to everyone who attended and to my fantastic friends who helped to make it a success.”

The group’s first official event will be a coffee morning, although arrangements for this are yet to be finalised.

Dorothy said: “We’ve met twice and there’s about five of us at the moment.

“We’ll organise things like coffee mornings between us, just modest things we can do in this area.”

The group meet at the coffee shop at the St Luke’s Hospice shop in Chester Road, in Hartford.