A fundraising event at the Pennycomequick pub in Falmouth has helped smash a £10,000 target set by staff at Treliske’s Critical Care Unit as part of a wider NHS 70th anniversary charity drive.

As part of the initiative celebrating 70 years of the NHS, seven teams at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (RCH) at Treliske were given £70 and given 70 days to turn that amount into as much as they could.

Staff at the Critical Care Unit (CCU) set themselves a target of £10,000 to buy a new state of the art training mannequin at the unit, but it seems they underestimated both the draw of the Penny and the generosity of locals when it comes to fundraising.

The charity night at Pennycomequick, which included auctions, raffle and live music from Sandstorm - with members of the CCU unit as part of the band - was the brainchild of local man David Cherry.

Two years ago David, 54, was referred to the Critical Care Unit with respiratory failure as a result of having contracted pneumonia.

During the next three months, he was put into an induced coma as his body continued to fail and as David himself puts it in no uncertain terms: “The CCU team bought me time as my body fought for life. I can’t put it more bluntly than that.

"Without the care and support of everybody at the CCU I wouldn’t be here today to talk about it. They saved my life so when we heard about their challenge, we just had to do something to help them get to their target.”

Raising over £5,800 on the charity night has helped the CCU team to smash their £10,000 target, with the amount raised now standing at a massive £24,000, which forms part of an overall £42K currently raised by all of the teams at Treliske as part of the challenge.

Presiding over the charity night, Penny landlord James Luck said: “What a great evening. There was so much generosity from everyone who came along and we have to thank so many local businesses who gave their services for free to make it all happen.

"Octopus Printers, staff at the Uni, Sandstorm that played for free and everyone who donated such amazing raffle prizes – they all did us proud and helped to raise that fantastic amount of money.”

With plans underway to expand and repeat the charity night at the Penny on an annual basis RCH community fundraiser Clare Lawrence added: “As always, we’re incredibly thankful to everyone who donates to our cause and this was a fantastic night. The overall effort of all of the NHS teams undertaking the challenge has been incredible.

"To have raised that kind of money while holding down their real jobs is just amazing and we can’t wait to see what the final tally is going to be at the end of the 70 days.”

To find out more about the NHS 70th anniversary activities, visit www.england.nhs.uk/nhs70.