A MOTOWN-themed night hosted in memory of a popular Llanymynech publican raised more than £8,000 for charity.

Organised by Laura Smith and her family in memory of her father, Christopher Haddon, the event welcomed more than 200 people through the doors of the Venue in Park Hall.

The evening was organised to celebrate what would have been Christopher’s 60th birthday, with the theme of the night chosen in memory of his love for Motown and karaoke.

Guests took part in a silent auction and a tombola raffle, before sitting down to enjoy a meal while the Motown singer, Wayne Allen, provided the entertainment.

Laura, who works at Burger King in Mile End service station spent time fundraising and organising the event to eventually raise a total of £8,153.30 with the help of family, friends and the staff at the fast-food restaurant.

She said: “A massive thank you to everyone who came along and everyone who donated prizes for the raffle.

“We had some great prizes up for grabs on the night including a football signed by Wolverhampton Wanderers players, two VIP tickets to any Saracens rugby league game, a night stay and play at a golf spa and more.

“They were amazing – we must’ve had 80 raffle prizes we had to sort out away from the evening itself because we had so many.

“Wayne was absolutely amazing. The room looked amazing – the Venue did us proud.

“It was a really really good night.”

Chris’ wife, Mandy Haddon, said it was a fantastic night for everyone in attendance.

“Lots of people said we should do it annually,” she said.

“It was our way of saying thank you to the hospice for all the work they did for Chris. He felt safe and relaxed during his time in there.

“Nothing is too much trouble for them, they’re such caring people.”

Mike Perry, community fundraising officer for Severn Hospice said: “Severn Hospice relies on donations every single year for two thirds of our income.

“Things like this where Laura and all of her friends and family have gone out and organised this all by themselves and raised such a phenomenal amount is fantastic.

“This really helps us to achieve our aim of helping as many people as we can each year.”