The event yesterday was the 17th consecutive one, and was hosted by Kristy Breese and her aunt Edna McGrath.

Mrs Breese said she would keep the annual fundraiser going for as long as people – helpers and tea-takers – kept supporting it.

“Without the help of everyone that donates and helps on the day, it wouldn’t be as successful as it has been,” she said.

“We’re already looking forward to next year.”

The edible goodies were made and donated by community members and Tamworth’s Square Man Inn.

There were also raffles, lucky door prizes and trading tables.

The money raised goes into funding research, prevention and support services for those affected by cancer.

One guest, Dudley Tickle, has travelled from Tamworth for the event about five times with his wife Yvonne and a friend or two.

He said the fundraiser had special meaning for him because in the past decade he’d survived three bouts with different cancers: kidney, oesophagus and bowel.

Mr Tickle said he’d “been very lucky” and Mrs Tickle agreed.

“We know four people who had oesophagus cancer after Dudley, and they’re not here any more.”

Mrs McGrath has hosted the event every year apart from a break last year.

She said one secret to its success was that she always mailed about 160 letters to friends and neighbours, inviting them to come along.

“If you just put a piece of paper in someone’s mailbox, they don’t acknowledge it,” she said.

“You think, ‘Oh, I might go to that’, then you don’t end up going.

“With a letter in an envelope, they open it and they answer it.”

With addition of Mrs Breese’s promotion on Facebook, they seemed to be onto a winning recipe.