AN Oldham law firm has raised £5,000 during the lockdown for Maggie's Cancer Centre in the town as part of its "coffee2cash" effort.

Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers have collected the cash they would normally spend of coffee and put it all into a pot for the facility.

Maggie’s - based at the Royal Oldham Hospital - was the chosen charity of the year for the law firm. Like many charities has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We had planned on helping out weekly in the garden, greenhouse, on open days and doing general kitchen work and baking,” said Suzanne Wright of Pearson, who has coordinated the project.

“A lot of sponsorship events have been cancelled and we wondered what we could do to help out, not all our staff want to run marathons and so we came up with coffee2cash idea.

"Instead of buying a cappuccino coming into work, or having a late lunch caffeine pick-me-up we’ve been working from home, pocketing the pounds and donating it all to our chosen charity,” she added.

“It’s hard to believe how much we actually spend on coffee during normal office hours and there was an amazing £2,231.25 collected up.”

As a bonus the kid-hearted Partners at Pearson dug deep and rounded it up to £5,000.

“2020 was supposed to be the year we ran the Manchester 10K, volunteered on a weekly basis and generally got all our staff involved in a charity close to many of our hearts and so the partners decided to double up on the coffee collection,” said partner and practice manager Joanne Ormston.

With no NHS or government funding Maggie’s relies on external assistance to keep open providing essential support for more than 10,000 people in Oldham every year. Throughout the recent pandemic it has provided online support and has recently opened its door again to visitors.

Laura Tomlinson, of Maggie's Oldham, said: “We absolutely love this coffee2cash idea and are so made up for the team at Pearson that it’s proved to be such a success – they sure do like their coffee.

"The amount the team have raised is just incredible and the hugely generous gesture of topping up the donation to £5000 has left us lost for words.

"Their support comes at a time when our support at Maggie’s is needed more than ever.  There is a heightened need for psychological support for people with cancer due to isolation, delayed treatment including surgery and poorer outcomes because of the impact of coronavirus. 

"We’re so thankful to the team at Pearson for finding a way to support us during these difficult times and for helping us to be here to continue our critical work for people with cancer at a time when they need us most.”