Lawyers at the Cheltenham office of Lodders Solicitors have raised over £2,500 for local medical charity Cobalt, by taking part in its annual fundraising Make a Will scheme.

A charity dedicated to helping people living with cancer, dementia and other serious conditions, Cobalt is currently raising funds for a new MRI scanner at the Cobalt Imaging Centre.

During the charity's Make a Will Month, Lodders' lawyers donated their time free of charge to draft straightforward wills for Cobalt supporters, in return for a donation to the charity.

Lodders raised £2,525 of the charity's 2017 total of £14,500 in donations, placing them in the top three of fundraising solicitors' firms this year.

Lodders' Associate Natalie Smith (pictured), a specialist in writing wills, said: "Our Cheltenham team have done another amazing job this year to support the Cobalt charity and its incredible work and important service. With the generosity of the clients we saw during the charity's Make a Will Month, we are thrilled to have raised more than £2,500, and be one of the top fundraising firms again this year.

Helen Tomes, supporter relations officer at Cobalt, added: "This year's Make a Will Month has brought in a total of £14,500 in donations, and we are grateful to Lodders for their time and support again this year. Times to consider making a will are changes in circumstance, such as buying a house, getting married or divorced and having a family. Since Cobalt's Make a Will Month began in 2011, over £77,000 of donations and 111 new legacy pledges have been generated, which is incredible."

Natalie said Cobalt and its fundraising scheme had been chosen for both professional and personal reasons: "Cobalt is a charity very close to my heart, as it has supported some of my own close family members and friends. I have seen first-hand the team's amazing work, its ground-breaking facilities and cutting-edge technology, which deliver high quality diagnosis not available routinely within the NHS or private sectors."

The Cobalt charity provides diagnostic imaging for over 60,000 patients at Cobalt Imaging Centre in Cheltenham, their ITM Imaging Centre in Birmingham and with a fleet of six mobile MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanners that travel throughout the UK.