Five florists donned ballerina costumed as they raised almost £2,000 taking part in Race for Life 5km at Hyde Park.

Paula Wyatt, along with four friends who work at Paula’s Petals, in Lavender Hill, took on the run and had originally only hoped to raise £500 but managed to raise £1,755 for Cancer Research UK.

Talking about the event, Ms Wyatt said: “We decided to make it a happy event as this can be such a distressing illness.

"We decided to dress in pink with all of us wearing ballerina skirts. We all had individual names of people that we dedicated our run to on our back, as did everyone on the run.

“To see other people with names on their back brought home this illness. The atmosphere was amazing, not sad but a happy time with a lot of encouragement by spectators which really helped us to complete the 5km run.”

The group, including workers Kerrie, Claire, Linda and Georgia, who had £320 given to them by customers at the store.

Ms Wyatt added: “Going to and from the event we kept our costumes on and our Race for Life number as well.

“We were proud of what we achieved and although we did get a lot of funny looks and photos taken of us in London this was all part of the fun.

“Thank you to all my customers for their support and to the girls for their contribution. This was the first time we have competed but hopefully this will not be the last. Next year, bring on the 10k?”