SHADES of raspberry and rose rippled through a market square as fundraisers tinged their breast cancer plight pink.

Abingdon was touched by a fuchsia fairy wand on Saturday as Against Breast Cancer hosted its Splash of Pink event, which saw morris men and belly dancers shimmy around Market Place.

The annual event, which is now in its fifth year, hoped to raise £3,500 for the Abingdon-based charity, which researches secondary breast cancer.

Organiser Alison Wilson said: "It was vibrant and colourful. It's nice to see local businesses taking part, we got so much donated."

A dozen businesses in the town centre took part in the charity's challenge, which asked them to deck out their window displays with pink.

Stert Street dominated the judge's praise books, with Robert Stanley Opticians taking first place and Gemini Hair taking second while La Baguette in Market Place came in third.

Charity trustee Richard Bahu, who sported a pink stripey bowler hat and a tiger face as he collected donations, said: "The community really turned out to support us. This year we had all sorts of stalls that had a tremendous pull.

"We all know someone who's had breast cancer or has recovered. The charity is quite unique in that it only focuses on secondary breast cancer."

Dr Nik Wallace, research manager at Against Breast Cancer, set up a microscope so passers-by could confront cancer cells through the lens.

She said: "This is our flagship event - we take over the town. The local community have been brilliant coming together, they have been really supportive.

"It's a really nice way to meet people. Of the people who came and said hello, more often than not they had a diagnosis themselves and wanted to see what's happening to their tissues."

Areas featured face painting, a fire engine, a pop-up charity shop and a mouth-watering array of homemade cakes - including a raffle prize crafted by former Great British Bake Off contestant Christine Wallace, from Didcot, who donated an iced sponge striped with pink bands and topped with roses.

Fiona Frost, who has been involved with the event's cake stall for three years, said: "Breast cancer touches so many lives. I put a message on Facebook saying can anyone bake something to help and the way people came together is amazing.

"People have been coming over speaking about cancer in the past tense, saying they 'had' cancer. That's thanks to things like this."

The charity, which has not yet released its fundraising total, thanked sponsors Connells and supporters including Crown and Thistle, which donated lunch for volunteers and put on a barbecue fundraiser, and Java & Co which offered volunteers free hot drinks all day.