STAFF at Springhill Hospice cooked up a winning recipe for the Can You Spare A Minute? appeal and raised £450.

Based on TV shows such as ‘Can’t Cook Won’t Cook’ and ‘Ready Steady Cook’, compere Ken Davies introduced the evening’s chef, hospice catering manager Linda ‘Nigella’ Chadwick.

Her almost impossible task was to make cooks out of Dean ‘James Martin’ Connaughton and Mick ‘Si Hairy King’ Downes, representing the green peppers.

The dynamic duo went head to head with the red peppers competitors, Ian ‘Anthony Worrall-Thompson’ Jenkins and Jim ‘Dave Hairy Myles’ Cunningham.

The two teams knocked together cheese scones, melon medley and chocolate cake, which saw the green peppers emerge as the winners.

Springhill Hospice administration manager Julie Perry said: "The audience tucked into a lovely spread of cheeses, breads and wine and some brave souls even bought some of the items made by the teams."

Sarah Ford, support services manager, said: "Everybody had a super evening, not least the patients who joined us and said what a brilliant time they’d had – they are still talking about it a week later.

"We thought this would be a fun way to contribute to the Observer’s campaign and it was an evening of hilarity."

Sarah added: "Can I say a big thank you to everybody involved in organising the evening and the various organisations and individuals who donated the food and raffle prizes. Also to the guys who donned their pinnies and gave us all such a good laugh."