The Well-being Cafe in Okehampton are over the moon after raising £3,249 for their vital cafe that helps hundreds of people in the community, writes Bethia Wyborn.

The cafe organised an auction event on April 5 at the Charter Hall which saw live music from the band Devil Rain, a raffle, buffet and bar.

Gemma Partridge, manager of the Well-being Cafe, said: “The evening was brilliant. We had lots of people arrive and enjoy the night.

“The band, Devil Rain, were brilliant. We had lots of compliments on them.”

As well as the auction, in December, Steve Sizmur chose the Well-being Cafe as beneficiaries of a charity rugby match in memory of his son Gary Sizmur.

At the match held at North Tawton Rugby Club, they managed to raise £650 for the cause.

Auction prizes included a signed Plymouth Argyle football, Exeter Chiefs tickets, a signed Manchester United photo, a gas boiler service, a golf day, family tickets to Castle Drogo and many more unique gifts.

Gemma continued: “A lot of people were getting quite competitive about winning the prizes which was really exciting! Those betting were very very generous with their spending.”

The raffle prizes included a £20 Trago Mills voucher, a £20 Purple Penguin, bottles of alcohol, a Zeals gift bag and more.

The money will go towards providing therapeutic activities to adults and teenagers accessing support at the cafe, help towards general running costs and providing free refreshments to ensure support is as accessible as possible.

The Well-being Cafe on St James Street aims to make Okehampton a suicide safer community.

Since opening in 2022 the cafe support hundreds of people each week who are struggling with their mental health, well-being, food poverty, homelessness, loneliness, isolation, abuse and addiction.

To find out more about the cafe, visit wellbeingcafe.co.uk