STAFF at a Hampshire supermarket took the plunge to raise more than £26,000 in memory of one of their colleagues.

A Southampton charity is celebrating after staff from Sainsbury’s Hedge End handed over a cheque of £26,451 after they abseiled 300ft down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.

The PLANETS charity – which stands for Pancreas Liver and Neuro Endocrine Tumours Southampton – was chosen after Karen Dolan lost her battle against pancreatic cancer five years ago.

Last month the staff handed over another cheque for more than £20,000 with a special night at the ballroom at the new Hilton Hotel in West End bringing the total to more than £46,000.

Store manager Simon Roweberry said: “We’ve had an excellent year supporting PLANETS, our customers and colleagues have got involved with fundraising activities. We’d like to thank everyone at PLANETS for making it such a brilliant partnership.”