Cups will clink and cake will be munched as charity coffee mornings take place across Norfolk and Waveney on Friday.

Events will be taking place up and down the country as The World's Biggest Coffee Morning raises money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

People will join together in homes, offices, village halls and a range of other venues across the region, with hopes high that the charity's annual event will be the most successful ever, as it marks its centenary.

Last year, more than 1,400 events were held across Norfolk and Suffolk raising �261,000 for the charity that offers emotional, practical, financial and medical support to people living with cancer.

This year, there are expected to be 1,600 events taking place across Norfolk and Suffolk.

In Norwich, these include a wide variety of events from coffee mornings in shops and banks, to a world record attempt. The record attempts will be at the Forum from 11am, with other large events at Marks & Spencer, in Rampant Horse Street, Open Venue, in Bank Plain, and St Giles church.

Annie Slater, of Hoveton, has been taking part in the annual event for more than 10 years, but this year the 73-year-old jazz singer will be holding a fundraiser at the Lighthouse Inn, Walcott.

Lynn Reeson has been holding events for 11 years and she will be hoping this year's morning at Cafe Verde, at South Green Park Enterprise Centre, Mattishall, will top the total of 200 visitors last year. While Humble Cake, which runs the The Willows Caf�, in Bungay, is hoping to raise more than �1,000 throughout the year for the charity.

Staff at the Cefas fisheries laboratories at Pakefield, Lowesotft, are also regular supporters of the event, and tomorrow their colleagues on board the company's research vessel Endeavour will be joining in from their position off the coast.

In Gorleston, Wendy Hill and her colleagues at the Finance Shop are hoping to get the whole community involved in an event from 9.30am, while other events include one at Blooms of Bressingham Garden Centre, near Diss, and at Attleborough Library.

Helen Chapman, area fundraising manager for Norfolk and Suffolk, said: 'We are so lucky to have so much support from the general public, companies, groups and associations and schools, it absolutely amazing that so many people have signed up to hold a coffee morning event.'

•To find your nearest event or donate call 0845 602 1246 or visit www.macmillan.org.uk/coffee