STAFF and customers at a farm shop just outside Taunton have boosted a Somerset charity with a year of fundraising.

Age UK Somerset was recently presented £3,900 raised at Rumwell Farm Shop & Café throughout last year.

Anne Mitchell, partner at the business, said: "We’re delighted to have donated £3,900 to Age UK Somerset, which was our chosen charity of the year for 2023.

"We raised the money from proceeds from our quiz nights throughout the year and our December Candlelight Christmas Dinner.

"We also wore Christmas jumpers to help fundraise further. Each team member involved gave £2 to wear theirs.

“The charity does wonderful work helping to deliver services and activities for older people across Somerset and North Somerset.

"We were so pleased to have also helped raise awareness of the work it does.

"We also donated 10p from the sale of every half dozen of our large eggs to the charity.

"We hoped to raise £3,000 for the organisation and are thrilled to have smashed our target and gone over and above it too.”

Age UK Somerset, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2023, works in the community to help older people that need support with a variety of services to combat loneliness, keep people fit and well and support those struggling financially.

With only the equivalent of 24 dedicated staff it relies on its team of more than 300 volunteers to deliver services and activities for older people across Somerset and North Somerset.

Kate Barrington, volunteering and communications manager at Age UK Somerset, said: “We are so grateful to have had the support of Rumwell Farm Shop during 2023.

"Like Rumwell, we are proud to be local and Somerset-based, and we both have a reputation for quality and great customer care.

“Our partnership resulted in more people learning about the services we offer to make later life better in the area and it also helped raise awareness and encourage people to join our amazing team of volunteers too.

“I’d like to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to all the staff and customers who have helped collect such a tremendous amount of money for us, which will make a real difference to the work we do.”