Staff at Marks and Spencer in Norwich held a teddy bears' picnic at their Rampant Horse Street store in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Customers were left wondering what was happening as staff got the face paints out and brought in teddy bears from home to deck out the store's cafe on Thursday.

They are still counting the pennies after a day of fun, games and competitions to try to encourage people to donate to the cancer charity, but have already raised �1,100 – topping their �1,000 target.

Graduate commercial manager Emily Russell, who runs the M&S cafe, said: 'We're really pleased with the amount we raised.

'There were quite a lot of people and a lot of them donated money, especially for the naming the teddy bear competition, where we had more than 100 people enter.

'We made up the cafe to look like a teddy bear scene with tablecloths and things like that, it looked really good.

'It was all really well received; our customers were happy to get involved. All the staff dressed up and it was a great day.'

M&S stores in the eastern region all held similar events on Thursday for Macmillan Cancer Support, which the department store chain links up with nationally for the Macmillan Coffee Morning in September.

Manager of the Norwich store Andy Barber added: 'It was absolutely brilliant; the atmosphere in the store was really good.

'Macmillan is one of those charities that everyone can relate to and will have been touched by, so it was great to raise money for them.'

Staff at M&S in Norwich will continue to collect for Macmillan over the rest of this weekend.

The Norwich store is currently undergoing a major refurbishment that is due to be finished in the autumn.

Log on to www.macmillan.org.uk for more information about the charity.

Are you planning an unusual charity event? Contact reporter David Freezer on 01603 772418 or email david.freezer@archant.co.uk