A GROUP of three Preston friends has managed to raise £3,000 this year for St Catherine's Hospice by staging a number of coach trips all over the country.

John Nickson, appeals manager at the hospice based at Lostock Hall said Nellie Rhodes, Mabel Greenwood and Betty Sephton have been running coach trips for the last seven years, between April and November.

John said the trips provide a cheap day out for a great many people and money they make is donated to the hospice, which means that over the last seven years they have raised more than £20,000.

John said: "We are eternally grateful to Nellie and her crew for doing a fantastic job and raising such a lot of money. If we were all as fit as Nellie is at 86 years of age we would do very well - she is quite a lady!"

Pictured: Betty Sephton, Mabel Greewood and Nellie Rhodes with John Nickson