A CLAY shoot held at the Bransford Manor home of estate agent Andrew Grant and his wife Bea raised more than £50,000 for St. Richard's Hospice.

This was the sixth such event the couple have hosted and the total handed to the Worcester hospice now stands at more than £200,000.

"This is entirely due to the generosity of our sponsors, the teams that took part and those who supplied lots for the charity auction," said Mr Grant. "It was a very well supported occasion and fortunately the weather was very kind to us."

Mr Grant co-organised the event with Georgina Britten-Long of Wichenford and it attracted thirty teams of four guns each. "The top scorer was the Old Cider Mill team of local developer Kenny Alton," Mr Grant added. "The 'young guns' prize for the best best young shots went to the pairing of Freddy Wentworth-Stanley and my son Freddie. The shooting side of the day was excellently organised by Alan Bewley and his team from Throckmorton Shooting School."

After the guns had been put away there was lunch and the charity auction which included a remarkable list of attractions including lunch at the House of Lords, a tour of the gardens at Highgrove, a morning on the racehorse gallops with top trainers Venetia Williams and Nicky Henderson, foreign holidays, fishing and shooting days and champagne.

The event is held bi-annually and Mrs Britten-Long said: "Another tremendous day and it's only 720 days to go until the next one. Worth all the slog when you achieve such a substantial sum for a great cause."