All over town, the tea totlers are gathering: warming pots, rattling cups and cooking scones - as Australia's biggest cancer fundraiser gets underway on Thursday, May 27.

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea is a fun, easy way everyone can help reduce the impact of cancer on the community.

Local businesses and community groups are rallying to the cause by hosting their own morning teas in Tenterfield.

People who want to help support cancer patients and fund research should call 1300 65 65 85 and register to host a morning tea on May 27.

Last year, people throughout NSW raised $2.9 million for cancer research, prevention and support services and this year we have a target of $120,000 for the north west.

Cancer survivor Sandra Gleeson of Tamworth and The Cancer Council NSW, are joining forces to urge the people of north west NSW to make two very important phone calls this month.

Researchers dip into bag of tea's health benefits

Can imbibing tea affect brain waves -- or perhaps more astonishingly, thwart the development of lung cancer?

A growing number of scientists, including a team on Long Island, theorize that tea is far more complex than most people might think. As a result, they are exploring new ways to uncover the chemical secrets nature has tucked into the leaves of green and black teas.

"People have been drinking tea for 5,000 years, and many cultures have used teas for medicinal purposes for just about that long," said John Foxe, a professor of neuroscience and biology at the Nathan Kline Institute in Orangeburg, N.Y. Foxe, who studies the effects of tea on the brain, presented data at a tea conference Tuesday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington.