THE ORGANISER of a Cirencester relay event to help raise money for Cancer Research UK is calling on friends, families and businesses to enter teams.

Cirencester Relay For Life is to be held at South Cerney Airfield on Saturday, July 29, with organiser Sharon Scrivens hoping the event will raise more than £100,000.

Having lost her son Ashley Scrivens in 2014 to melanoma and her father Alan Carpenter to leukaemia in 2000, Sharon, 54, has dedicated herself to helping raise funds to beat the disease.

Starting at noon, the event will see teams of eight to 15 members running or walking non-stop for 24 hours around a 400-metre track.

“As long as one member of your team is on that track at any one time, that’s all you have to do," explained Sharon. "You could do the whole 24 hours if you wanted, you could do half an hour, it doesn't matter."

Sharon is also part of a team of friends who have competed every year for a decade in the Portsmouth version of the event, where her father was based during his time in the Royal Navy, before she was asked to helm the new Cirencester relay.

"In 2014, Cancer Research UK contacted me and asked if I would chair and organise a relay in Cirencester, because we're such good fundraisers," she said.

"I said yes and started to get things together.

"Then my son, Ashley, got really poorly."

Originally diagnosed with melanoma in 2011, Ashley, son of Nigel Scrivens, who played over 250 games for Gloucester Rugby and himself played for Cirencester Rugby Club, had been given the all clear, but in 2014 the cancer returned and "he just got worse," explained Sharon.

"I was looking after him so I put the relay on hold."

Ashley died in August 2014 at the age of 24.

"I decided to do it for 2017," said Sharon, who works as a receptionist in Cirencester.

"I put my team together and put the feelers out, to see if I could get any teams," she said.

"It's a massive event, bigger than Race For Life. It's been going across the world for 20 years, but just not a lot of people know about it over here. There are only around 40 relays in the UK each year."

Following an introduction evening in September held at The Crown pub in Cirencester Market Place, Sharon was astonished at the response.

"The guys from Cancer Research UK could not believe it. They said of all the introduction evenings they’ve been to, they’ve never had a response like the one they got in Cirencester."

By December, 17 teams from the town had signed up for the event.

In comparison, Portsmouth Relay For Life celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year with a record 33 teams having entered by the time of the event.

Sharon said: "From the moment you sign up, as a team, you start fundraising. It will be a massive event."

She said the airfield will be turned into a 'bit of a festival' for the day with music and live bands, as well as other activities, including inter-team competitions, and food and drink.

There will also be a 'Curious About Cancer Corner' where attendees can find out more about the disease, while Sharon is also hoping somebody performing mole checks and swabs for bone marrow, as well as a Macmillan bus will agree to come.

The relay committee, put together by Sharon, will also continue to put on other fundraisers in the run up to the main event, including a dinner and dance in March at Cirencester Parish Church.

In December, the team also put on a Santa Fun Run around the Abbey Grounds and Market Place, which raised £450, while a Ladies Lunch raised £1,650.

Sharon said: "The last Portsmouth Relay raised £105,000 - and I want to beat that!"

She estimates that around £10,000 will be needed to stage the event, with the rest of the funds raised going to the charity.

"There's no Government funding for cancer research," she said.

"In the two years since Ashley died, some types of melanoma now are more treatable and the survival rate's gone up a little bit.

"I'm glad that's happening, because what's the point in doing all this work - that's what we want.

"I know it doesn't help Ashley, but it can help somebody else.

"As long as another family doesn't have to go through what we've gone through, it's okay.

"You don't want to lose a child, it's not the way it should be."

An official launch event for Cirencester Relay For Life will take place next month.

Sharon is also appealing to any cancer survivors to contact her to take part in a celebratory opening lap at noon on the day.

You can call her on 07802691021 or email sharonscrivens@outlook.com.

Visit relay.cancerresearchuk.org to find out more about the event.