THE thought of a week's holiday, lying on a beach, was enough to spur on landlords and landladies to raise funds for the Magic Eye Appeal.

And an impressive £2,000 has been coppered-up from Daniel Thwaites pubs in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph circulation area.

The brewery kindly donated two tickets for a week-long, four-star holiday in Tenerife to spur on fundraising six weeks ago.

But the winning landlord, David Walsh, 37, of the Gibraltar Hotel in Gibraltar Street, Blackburn has had to relinquish the tickets.

Despite donating £380 to the coffers, he is moving pub with wife Samantha, 35, and cannot fly on the fixed date next Friday.

So it is runner-up Jean Blade and John Maguire of the Lord Raglan, in Kings Road, Mill Hill, who are packing their suitcases, ready for take-off! Jean said: "We booked a holiday but it was cancelled. We were supposed to be going on a cruise around Jordan but with all the trouble, it has been changed. The Tenerife holiday has just come in handy and we are really looking forward to it."

The pub raised £350 from raffles, donations from the pub's football team and small change put in the kitty.

But it was the team of fundraisers at the Gibraltar Hotel which raised the most money with barmaid Linda Ward responsible for a sponsored slim.

Mr Walsh said the appeal was a worthy cause with a lot of local support.

He added: "We are verydisappointed we can't accept the holiday but are moving to another pub on October 30."

Roger Elliot, representing Thwaites, said: "We are very pleased with the response we have had. Pubs are always keen to support worthy causes and Magic Eye is certainly that."

The appeal hopes to raise £200,000 for an endoscopic ultrasound scanner which will benefit the whole of East Lancashire with the quicker diagnosis of stomach and oesophagus cancer.