A Stevenage student helped raise £13,000 for a cancer charity by throwing a glitzy evening bash.

Second year University of Hertfordshire student Marianne Smith helped plan the event working as part of a team called Inspire Events.

She worked alongside Courtney Sellers, Aimee Lucas, Bethany Commins and Emma Broadbent who are all doing an Event Planning Design and Community Engagement module.

The students raised the money by inviting guests to a sit-down meal with a raffle and auction; which included prizes such as a holiday to Spain, signed sports merchandise, VIP concert tickets and a car for the weekend.

The team had no budget and organised a three-course meal and dance.

Marianne said: “As soon as we knew we had to organise an event we all had the same idea of what we wanted to do.

“We put so much of our time into organising the event and we were set on making sure that everyone enjoyed themselves and had a good evening.

“We were overwhelmed by the support we had, donations from top companies and the generosity of all those who attended.

“We are amazed with the amount raised and hope that we managed to spread awareness of this rare cancer.”

The money was donated to Sarcoma UK after a team members family member was diagnosed before Christmas.

Sarcomas are rare cancers that develop in the muscle, bone, nerves, cartilage, tendons, blood vessels and the fatty and fibrous tissues.

They make up 1% of all cancer diagnoses in the UK.