The Kidplay Café in Addiscombe High Street spread the Valentine's love by joining in the Cake A Difference bake sale for Bliss on Tuesday. As a soft play centre for the Under 5s, Bliss, the special care baby charity, is one that proprietor Nicola and her staff really wanted to support as soon as they heard about the fund raising initiative, and they set about mobilising their loyal customers to help.

Many joined in by not only turning up to buy cakes and treats, but also by baking a huge variety of cakes and cupcakes to bring in for the big day. Some helped decorate the café and others helped to sell the cakes out on the High Street as well. And the Addiscombe community spirit didn't fail, with many of the local shop owners, as well as the workmen currently completing the works on the High Street, all buying up the cakes to help boost funds. One regular customer, Stephanie, baked giant cupcakes for two prize draws, one weighing in at 3lb 2¾ oz in the guess the weight of the cake competition.

In addition to the cake sale and prize draws, Kidplay Café donated £1 from every tea and coffee sale made that day to the total. And another small business, Phoenix Trader, who regularly sells gift cards at the café, was donating a percentage of all her sales that day, adding an extra £15 to the final amount.

By the end of the day the grand total raised came to £240.75

Nicola said, "I am so grateful to everybody that came down and supported our event today and wanted to join us in raising money for Bliss. Everyone is watching their spending these days but it just shows that the generous community spirit in Addiscombe is alive and well. A massive thank you to everyone that gave their time to bake cakes and to those who came and bought them as well as help sell them. We really do appreciate it."

(Bliss is a special care baby charity providing vital support and care to premature and sick babies across the UK, the only national charity dedicated to this vital work. As well as offering guidance and information, Bliss also funds ground-breaking research and campaigns for babies to receive the best possible level of care. One in every nine babies in the UK is born premature or sick, over 80,000 babies every year, so their work is absolutely crucial. More information at www.bliss.org.uk)

(Kidplay Café is open Monday to Friday 9am - 5.30 and Saturday 9am - 2.45pm. More information at www.kidplaycafe.co.uk)