A CURRY Rivel family collected 1,500 5p coins for the County Gazette-backed Somerset Unit for Radiotherapy Equipment charity.

The £75 donation from Claire Jones and family to SURE, which helps equip the Beacon Centre cancer unit at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital, was among £1,185.05 presented to the charity last week.

Other gifts of 5ps included £20.55 from New Horizon Singers; £44.75 from Taunton Hard of Hearing Group; £19 from Creech St Michael WI; and £155.45 from the Beacon Centre, which also raised a further £13.30.

There was also £648.30 from Burnham and District Model Railway Club from the sale of a replica of a full size tanker belonging to Parrett and Axe Vales Dairy Company, Crewkerne.

The £101.14 from Tower House B&B of Bridgwater came from spare money left in rooms by guests.

Other donations were £4.46 from Daphne Gilham; £10 from Gordon Larcombe; £2 from Alan Sutton; £22.02 from the collection pot at Sainsburys, in Billet Street, Taunton; £19.06 from the collection pot at the Skipton Building Society, Taunton; and £50 from Ivan and Doreen Tomalin, of Taunton, from their golden wedding donations.

A total of £639,792.25 has been raised since SURE linked up with the Gazette.