SISTERS have raised thousands of pound for a dementia charity in honour of their mother to try and ensure others affected by the disease receive more help than they were given.

Irene Thompson, 81, died last year following her battle with vascular dementia.

During her illness, daughters Christine and Linda found it incredibly challenging to find suitable support for their mother after initially struggling to get a proper diagnosis.

After initially being allocated with a social worker, Mrs Thomson moved into care homes as she was taken over by the disease.

But now her daughters have raised more than £3,600 for charity Dementia UK after holding bashes at their local pub The Chequers in Great Tey in the past two years.

Christine said they were delighted to have raised so much money.

She said: "When my mum things were not right we had the devil's own job to say what it was.

"Eventually she moved to Mistley Manor and they could not do enough for her.

"During the journey we were on we heard about Dementia UK and something called Admiral nurses, who do a similar job to Macmillan nurses for people with cancer but there are only 140 of them in the country and none in our area because there is just no funding.

"It was then we decided to fundraise."

The two parties including live music and food have been backed by dozens of people from the community and Christine said she was shocked at how much they had managed to raise.

She said: "The support we have had from the people at the pub and the landlord has been incredible.

"They are amazing people who have been through it all with us.

"People from Mistley Manor have been there at both the parties and their help has been so invaluable."