A HOSPICE support group has won a top regional award.

The eight-member Riddlesden and East Morton Support Group, which coins-in cash for Manorlands, was among the victors in the virtual Yorkshire and Humber Fundraising Awards.

It took the Fundraising Event of the Year accolade for its Zip the Pepper Pot challenge, held in June last year.

The event – organised with backing from the fundraising team at the Oxenhope Sue Ryder hospice – saw more than 320 daredevils zip wire 300 metres from the top of Lund's Tower, above Sutton-in-Craven.

About £50,000 was raised.

Following its success, a Zip the Cow event was due to take place at the Cow & Calf Rocks in Ilkley this summer – but it has been rescheduled for next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bob and Lesley Tole, founder members of the Riddlesden and East Morton Support Group, said: “We really enjoyed being part of the team helping out on the Zip the Pepper Pot event and it was great seeing how many people – young and old – wanted to raise funds for Manorlands.

"It’s a shame that this year’s event had to be cancelled but we’ll be back, because being part of a fundraising group is lots of fun and tremendously rewarding.”

Tribute is paid to the team by Andrew Wood, community fundraising manager at Manorlands.

He said: “We’d like to say a huge congratulations to the members of the Riddlesden and East Morton Support Group for their hard work in making last year's event a real success.

"This is the first time Sue Ryder has been recognised with a prestigious Yorkshire and Humber Fundraising Award so it’s fantastic that this group, one of many brilliant volunteer fundraising groups in the area, has put us on the map.”

The awards, organised by the Institute of Fundraising Yorkshire, celebrate "exceptional" fundraising across the region.

Manorlands supports patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families at the hospice and in the community, across an area covering Craven, Airedale and Wharfedale as well as parts of Bradford.

All services are free to patients and their loved ones, but it costs £10,000 a day to keep the hospice doors open – or £3.6m a year.

Only a small part of the cost, £1.2m, is covered by statutory funding.

Most of the funds have to be raised through voluntary donations.

The charity's income has been hit hard this year by the pandemic.