A POSTMAN who organised an auction to raise money for the hospice which cared for his late wife said he was "blown away" by people's generosity.

Rick Henderson, of Fox Close, Chipping Norton, said he was delighted with the success of Sunday's event at the Blue Boar which raised £1,400 for Katharine House Hospice in Aderbury, near Banbury.

The 50-year-old wanted to raise as much as possible for the hospice, which cared for his beloved wife Sue, who lost her two-and-a-half-year battle with breast cancer in February.

Sue, 46, had been a postie herself in Chippy for nearly 24 years and was well known among locals.

Mr Henderson, who has been a postie for the last 13 years, secured prizes from generous customers including a bottle of House of Commons whiskey signed by Prime Minister David Cameron which went for £150 and a signed copy of Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson's latest book.

"It's just absolutely blown me away the generosity of everybody that's been involved," he said. "On the day we ended up with £1,400 which is amazing. That doesn't include what was in the collection pots and buckets. I reckon we've got between £300 and £400 between all the collection pots."

The father-of-two is now planning to hold a further fundraiser after he bought an evening with guitarist Craig Ogden himself at the auction.

He is hoping to hold a wine and cheese event with the musician in the Blue Boar Restaurant with a raffle and auction which he hopes will push up the total to £4,000.

And he said the support from the community showed the town was far from the so-called 'Chipping Norton Set' portrayed in the national media.

"It's just gone to prove, regardless of who you are, the generosity of the community coming together for this was just incredible," he said.

"I know the other side of them, not the side that's under the banner of the Chipping Norton set."