A church is on the verge of breaking its record for raising money at its annual fayre. Brilliant, warm sunshine greeted hundreds of people who flocked to Saturday s St Andrew s Church country fayre in Shortmead Street, Biggleswade, which was opened by TV

A church is on the verge of breaking its record for raising money at its annual fayre.

Brilliant, warm sunshine greeted hundreds of people who flocked to Saturday's St Andrew's Church country fayre in Shortmead Street, Biggleswade, which was opened by TV personality and comedienne Kate Robbins.

Kate spent almost an hour at the fayre and left with a number of bags full of purchases from the various stalls she visited.

Last year the fayre raised £10,000 for charity and this year the figure currently stands at £8,850 and the fayre committee is still counting.

There was a sponsored swim on Sunday and St Andrew's vicar the Rev William Thackray used pedal power to raise money for the event by cycling from Bedford back to the church in time for the opening of the fayre.

"The fayre was excellent. We were blessed with wonderful weather and the beautiful day brought out hundreds of people," said church spokesman Paul Williams.

"We would like to say a big thank you to the people of Biggleswade who came to the fayre and made it such a success.

"At the last count we had collected £8,850 but there is still more to come from the sponsored swim and the vicar's bike ride so we might just beat last year's record."

The money will be split between two charities, Save the Children and The Children's Society..