Collecting for Tickled Pink.

It was a cold, wet autumnal Saturday but the welcome to the #tickledpink collection couldn't have been warmer. My mother used to say that the older ladies and the mothers with young children were the first to come forward when she was collecting - and that was certainly largely true today.

But there were some wonderful guys who made generous donations too.

My heart is literally full after the stories that were shared - the girl who lost her mother only last week to

breast cancer - so many whose sisters, mother, aunt, mother-in-law have left a hole in their lives as a result of this horrible disease. But then there were the success stories - the lady who 'left that thing behind' her 30 years ago! The ones who have just passed their 5th year clear - and the collectors who took over from us after our stint was finished who were celebrating 13 + years clear by collecting for others.

There were stories that made me cry. Stories that made me cheer - and laugh. The little girl who was so excited by her sparkly pink sticker that she put her 10p donation in her mouth and her chocolate in the bucket! The lovely

sons who when their mother said she wished she had some change, said 'Oh I can do that for you' - and went off wearing their sparkly stickers with a smile.

So many - some who made generous donations that you wondered if they could afford them - and others who only had a few pence - but that all built up. But most of all there were the shared stories - some happy, some of the 'all clear' - some of harder news - that just proves how appallingly common this dreadful cancer is - with one woman diagnosed with it every 8 minutes. I'm just grateful that I could do some little bit to help.

'It's a generous store this' said the staff - and they were right. My bucket - and that of my lovely assistant - was heavy to lift by the end of the morning. So thank you to everyone who came and chatted and donated - thank you to everyone who shared their story - thank you to the staff at Asda - specially Ruth who helped us get organised and kept an eye on things.

My lovely assistant!

Thank you too to all my fellow Mills & Boon authors who gave their time in other Asda stores all over the country to collect for the #Tickled Pink campaign. And if you couldn't get to an Asda where one of the M&B authors was collecting, you can still go and buy one of our books as it means a donation! (a valid excuse to have to go and buy books - Oh dear! )