CELEBRITY chef Delia Smith will tonight join figureheads from North East football in becoming a patron for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

The best-selling cookery writer and joint majority shareholder at Norwich City FC got to know Sir Bobby during his spell as manager at Ipswich Town.

She will be confirmed in her official role for the charity the former Newcastle manager set up with his wife Lady Elsie Robson at a fundraising event tonight.

Organisers of Sir Bobby’s Breakthrough Ball in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, are aiming to raise £250,000 for the foundation and Breakthrough Breast Cancer. An auction at the event features memorabilia from sports clubs around the world.

Lady Robson said she was delighted to have Delia Smith on board with the charity: She said: “After my husband died I asked a small group of friends if they would help support our ongoing efforts fighting cancer through the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. Delia was one of those people and, very kindly, she immediately agreed. Since then we’ve been waiting for an appropriate occasion to announce her support.

“It’s taken a bit longer than any of us had planned and I’m happy that we’re finally in a position to thank Delia publicly for her behind-the- scenes support. Sir Bobby’s Breakthrough Ball will be a wonderful event and a very fitting occasion to welcome Delia formally as a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.”

Delia joins Newcastle legend Alan Shearer, Sunderland’s Niall Quinn, Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson and Mick Mills, Sir Bobby’s Ipswich skipper, as a patron.

Delia said: “Sir Bobby was a great friend and inspiration to me for many years and it is a privilege to help continue the magnificent work he and Elsie started, in any way I can.

“Cancer knows no boundaries and it is wonderful that this is one struggle in which all football clubs have united. The evening is just one step towards the ultimate aim of eradicating the scourge of this disease.”