CHEQUES worth a total of £12,500 were presented to three cancer charities last week

The money was raised at a clay pigeon shooting event held at the home of Devizes estate agent Gordon Straker and his wife, Helen, in Potterne in July.

Mrs Straker, 51, had cancer two years ago and wanted to raise money to help cancer charities.

Thirty teams of four people took part in the shoot and it was followed by a demonstration by two professional shooters, John Smith who is the number one seed for clay pigeon master class in the UK, and Brian Tuck.

An auction was held by Phil Serrell from television's Bargain Hunt.

The sum of £5,000 has been given to Bath Cancer Research, another £5,000 to TOPS Teenage Oncology Patients Support which is part of CLIC and £2,500 to the Dorothy House Hospice.

Mrs Straker said: "We thought it would be nice if we could raise £10,000 but were not expecting to. To raise £12,500 is phenomenal and we are grateful to everybody who took part."