BIG names in horse-racing were among a top-notch guest list that helped to pull in massive winnings for a Basingstoke hospital charity.

The dinner at Highclere Castle served up more than £150,000 for the North Hampshire Medical Fund.

The charity is working to raise a total of £450,000 towards an advanced CT scanner which will be housed in the new cancer centre that Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wants to build.

At the event, held last Thursday, guests bid for the finest wines, trips away and exclusive artwork to raise the incredible sum for the cause.

Tricia Monro, fund manager at North Hampshire Medical Fund, said they were enormously grateful to all those who contributed to the cause on the night.

She said: “We were approached by the hospital about the project and we are thrilled to be able to help.

“This is exactly the sort of thing we like to be able to support.”

She said the medical fund would be holding more events to help raise the remaining £300,000 and that they are supporting other charities such as RadCan who are also fundraising for the cancer centre. Guest Lady Lloyd Webber teamed up with Jake Warren, son of John Warren and Carolyn Warren, owners of Highclere Stud, to buy the evening’s top lot, a racehorse, which they purchased for £36,000.

The horse was donated by Highclere Stud, but it will be trained locally for free by Andrew Balding, in Kingsclere.

Jake said “I’m over the moon to have bought this filly. I am representing Ascot Racecourse’s young racing club The Birdcage and to have Lady Lloyd Webber as a partner is fantastic. Lady Lloyd Webber said:

“Together we are all so pleased to have been able to help support such a worthwhile cause.

“The filly is related to some of my own racehorses so I was very interested in the lot. The fact that I’ve joined up with Jake and The Birdcage to buy her makes it all the more fun as now my children can put their names to a racehorse.”

Other notable lots at the evening, which was sponsored by Dr Jim and Fitri Hay and Dubai investment firm JMH Lifestyle group, included a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, a beach house for a week in Mustique, a bronze or portrait commission by artist Charlie Langton and a dinner for 12 in Highclere Castle. The North Hampshire Medical Fund raises funds to buy state-of-the-art medical equipment that cannot be funded by the NHS.