Cirencester firm pledges to raise £10k for cancer charity

A FIRM of land and property agents and antiques auctioneers has pledged to raise £10,000 for a charity that brings vital cancer treatment to the doorsteps of patients.

Hope for Tomorrow is a locally-based charity with national reach.

Founded in Tetbury in 2007 the charity brings chemotherapy services to patients in market towns who would otherwise have to travel miles to receive their treatment at oncology centres in large hospitals.

The charity operates 10 mobile units covering much of England.

In Gloucestershire the Helen 2 unit – a replacement for the charity's original mobile centre – visits satellite hospitals at Cirencester, Stroud, Tewkesbury, and in the Forest of Dean, saving patients a trek into Cheltenham.

It costs £265,000 to build and maintain a new unit for four years.

Units are staffed by NHS nurses and technicians and driven by NHS employees.

Each year the charity needs to raise £1 million.

Moore Allen & Innocent has pledged to raise £10,000 for the charity over the next 12 months.

The fundraising drive will start with a walk along the 100-mile Cotswold Way, starting in Chipping Campden and finishing in Bath.

Twenty seven members of staff from across the firm's offices – at Cirencester, Lechlade, and at Knockdown near Tetbury – will undertake the challenge over two weekends in June.

The staff are also planning an Autumn race night and other fundraising activities.

And every penny raised by employees will be matched by the firm – with a target of £10,000 set.

"Hope for Tomorrow is an excellent local charity with national reach. I'm delighted that staff have chosen to support them this year," said partner Roy Bowyer.

Kerry Waite, fundraising officer, said: "The support of businesses like Moore Allen & Innocent is incredibly important, not only in raising vital funds, but also in raising awareness of the charity and its work."

Joining Moore Allen & Innocent staff at the launch of the fundraising drive was Cotswolds resident Roger Dakin.

For six months he regularly attended the oncology unit at Cheltenham hospital with his wife Madeleine, who was being treated for bowel cancer.

Following her successful treatment the couple took a holiday to celebrate – and it was on their return that Roger discovered he too had bowel cancer.

The fact that, in the meantime, Hope for Tomorrow had launched their Cirencester service meant Roger could attend a small local unit, rather than waiting in line with 30 or 40 other patients in Cheltenham.

"It is far less stressful, both for the patient and their carer," he said.

"And the treatment is second-to-none. The nurses were my Angels of Mercy."

To support Moore Allen & Innocent' fundraising efforts visit virginmoneygiving.com/team/MooreAllenandInnocent