RECEIVING treatment for cancer can been as emotionally stressful as it can physically. With that in mind, it’s fantastic to hear that the first fundraising milestone to have a radiotherapy centre built in Swindon has been reached.

This centre, due to be ready for use in 2017, will slash travel times for local cancer patients in half. It will spell an end to the tiring two hour round trip to Oxford which sufferers are currently subjected to on a daily basis. This trip can take four hours in total if you require a hospital car, which would exhaust even those in good health.

A significant donation towards the fundraising effort came courtesy of the Malmesbury League of Friends. The group fundraise tirelessly for various health causes and are an ever more common example of a how money raised by the public is being relied on to provide public services. Robin Clark, chairman of the group, said: “So many things fall outside the system now, so we do anything we can to help.”

This week the Standard also covered fundraising work by two other local groups. The Friends of Sherston School have been raising money for fitness equipment which would be way out of their state school budget, and HEALS of Malmesbury have fundraised to bring back vital community projects that have had public funding pulled.

As news comes through this week that George Osborne is asking unprotected government departments to come up with saving plans of 25% and 40% of their budget, it look like more and more of things could start falling ‘outside of the system’, and relying on public fundraising efforts.

So as the government cuts, volunteers step up to the plate to provide. It’s a wonder how much further altruism in this country can be stretched.