THIS week we launched the Standard's biggest-ever appeal, to help cancer sufferers and their families all over the Cotswolds.

We want readers to help us raise £200,000 towards a £3million cancer support centre, work on which starts in September this year.

A tall order perhaps but with your help we are sure it can be done.

Maggie's Cotswolds will be in a restored and strikingly-extended listed building alongside Cheltenham General Hospital.

It will be a refuge where people with cancer, and their families, can go for support, relaxation, nutritional advice or simply to pour out their worries over a cup of coffee.

It will be staffed by professionals - doctors and nurses who are skilled and experienced in the field of cancer care.

All this will be free, which is why we need you to help us raise the money.

Our appeal is being supported by design guru Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, a recently-arrived but hugely supportive Cotswold resident.

Patron of the charity is the Prime Minister's wife, Sarah Brown, and a host of other celebrities, including J K Rowling, Gwyneth Paltrow and GMTV presenter Penny Smith already support Maggie's.

Sarah Brown told the Standard: "When I go into a Maggie's Centre, I can see for myself the way that every person is helped to find their best way of coping with the disease.

"There is no right or wrong way to live with cancer, and that is why the individually tailored support Maggie's gives is so important. I feel strongly that everyone in the UK affected by cancer should be able to access this vital help.

"There are 35,000 people living with cancer in the Cotswolds. I know that the new Maggie's Centre will be a tremendous support to them and encourage your readers to give generously to this campaign."

Lawrence Llewwlyn Bowen said: "I'm thrilled to support the campaign to build a new Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre in the Cotswolds.

"Having recently moved into the area with my family I was surprised to hear that in the Cotswolds around 35,000 people are living with cancer, and a further 5,400 people are being diagnosed with cancer each year.

"Cancer is something most of us are concerned about and Maggie's Cotswolds will provide support for anyone affected by any kind of cancer in the area. So it's good to know that when Maggie's Cotswolds is completed they will have a special place to go where they can relax and get the support and information they need.

"I would encourage Standard readers to go ahead and take part in fundraising activities to help raise the £200,000 Maggie's needs to get the construction of Maggie's Cotswolds started."

Laura Lee, Maggie's chief executive, said this week: "By raising the £200,000 in support of Maggie's centres, Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard readers will be vital to our effort to make Maggie's Cotswolds a reality.

"We know from previous campaigns that while £200,000 is a significant amount of money to raise, it is an achievable target.

"With the generous support of people in the Cotswolds we will be able to start construction of the cancer caring centre by the autumn of 2008."

Mr Rob Gornall, consultant gynaecological surgeon and network medical director of the Three Counties Cancer Network said: Maggie's Centres are well-resourced places where anyone with cancer can go whenever they want, without having to make an appointment or get a referral.

"Maggie's Cotswolds will be a very important addition to what the NHS provides."

Dr The Hon Gilbert Greenall, CBE, chairman of the campaign board for Maggie's Cotswolds said: "I began my medical career at Gloucestershire, and I am thrilled to now be leading the fundraising effort to build a Maggie's Centre in the Cotswolds.

"I have witnessed how Maggie's combination of psychological, social and practical support provided in a relaxing and uplifting environment can transform the experience of people affected by cancer.

"I am genuinely convinced that Maggie's will bring something new to this area, which neither the NHS nor other charities are able to provide. I hope readers will join us in this exciting campaign."

For more about Maggie's centres go to www.maggiescentres.org.uk