THOUSANDS of pounds were raised when bank staff got baking for babies in Northwich.

Workers at Barclays, in Gadbrook Park, raised more than £3,000 with their 'Bun in the Oven Bake Off' and raffle in aid of the charity Tommy's.

This was match-funded by the bank to make up a total of more than £6,000 for the charity, which funds research into miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth.

Organiser Claire Kilty said staff baked about 30 cakes for the event with colleagues voting on the best looking cake in their department.

The two cakes with the most votes then went through to round two, which saw team leaders tasting the cakes and nominating one to go through to the final.

The winning cake was decided by Chris Dick, regional servicing director, and Neil Johnson, client service director, who judged all the final five cakes by appearance and taste.

The cake, themed around a baby's face and called 'Emily Loves Spaghetti', was baked by Janet Astles and made of red velvet sponge with a cream cheese icing.

Janet was presented with an engraved glass cake stand that had been provided by Barclays.

Claire said: "I would like to say a huge thank you to all the businesses who supported the event and donated raffle prizes.

"The raffle was a huge part of the amount raised, and was down to the generosity of the companies and individuals who supplied the prizes.

"I would also like thank all the colleagues I worked with to achieve the success of the event, which could not have been done without them, and finally a huge thank you to all colleagues, friends and relatives who showed their support and donated to the just giving page or baked for the event."

Tommy's early miscarriage investigation unit was launched on April 4, and the money raised at the event will go towards the centre's research into the reasons why early miscarriages occur.