TWIN sisters Patricia Nevins and Paula Treanor surpassed their wildest expectations when they raised £1,407 with a garden party for the medical charity Breakthrough.

Front lawns on Walmersley Road sprang to life when friends and neighbours rallied round to organise the event in aid of breast cancer research.

Patricia (57) has held the event at her home for the last three years after Paula, also of Walmersley Road, recovered from the illness.

Next-door neighbours pitched in for the effort, filling front gardens with tables and chairs for visitors to enjoy the refreshments on offer. And there were bargains galore at stalls selling cakes, plants, jewellery, dolls and clothes.

A raffle and tombola with prizes donated by firms across Bury helped boost the final total, which easily beat an original target of £1,000.

Patricia said: "It was wonderful. We had balloons in the trees and people who were just walking past were buying things. Everyone put 110 per cent into it.

"When Paula started to get better from her illness, she said that she wanted to do something for research, because we have to get rid of this disease one way or another."