£70,000 milestone reached

Raising a glass to success are Saddleworth Ladies Fund-raising Committee members (from the left) Louise Holt and Lucy Plevin, Jacky Plant, from the Christie, and committee members Jane Cooksey and Lisa Stead

Your Chronicle — backing the £100,000 Christie appeal

A £100,000 plea by the Christie Hospital for Oldhamers to help to equip the borough’s new £17 million radiotherapy centre due to open next year, has has captured the imagination of Oldham Evening Chronicle readers.

They took the appeal to their hearts and, less than five months since it was launched, they have already hit the £70,000 mark.

The charity teamed up with the Oldham Evening Chronicle to challenge readers to raise the money in a year, but it looks set to hit the target well before next year’s March 11 deadline

Jacky Plant, community fund-raising officer with the Christie charity, said she was amazed and delighted with the response.

She sent out a big “thank you” to everyone who had chipped in, alongside a rallying call to fund-raisers to make a final push.

The building will house two powerful linear accelerator machines which are used to give radiotherapy to cancer patients.

Each weighs three tonnes, and they are due to arrive from Crawley-based manufacturers Elekta, in pieces next week.

The will be installed over a 10-week period in specialist bunkers designed with 2.5 metre thick walls to contain radiation.

Once in position, stringent radiation safety tests will be carried out over several months before they are ready for use.

The machines are the same as those already installed on the Christie Hospital’s Withington site, and experts expect to take up to 15 weeks collecting data and programming computers to fine-tune issues such as dose distribution.

They will run on a paperless system, with all data being sent back and forth between clinicians and the linear accelerators electronically to prevent any delay.


Taste of Caribbean is huge money-spinner

A TASTE of the Caribbean, brought to Denshaw by Saddleworth Ladies Fund-raising Committee, raised a whopping £2,400 for the Christie’s at Oldham appeal.

Guests at Clough Manor, where the event was staged, entered into the spirit when they donned flower garlands and Hawaiian-style shirts, and even tried their luck at limbo dancing before tucking into traditional dishes, including jerk chicken.

Music from a 10-piece steel band provided the perfect musical accompaniment.

The Ladies Fund-raising Committee, picked the appeal as its chosen charity for the year because one of its members is currently undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer at the Christie.

Committee member Deborah Martin, from Saddleworth, said: “As a committee we fund-raise for local causes and we wanted to raise money for the Oldham radiotherapy centre because cancer is something which has touched so many of our lives.”

Jacky Plant, community fund-raising officer for Christie, said: “What a fantastic and fun idea to raise money for the new radiotherapy centre in Oldham. We are so grateful to Saddleworth Ladies Fund-raising Committee.”


TO get help or advice in setting up a fund-raising event, contact the appeals office on 0161-446 3988, visit www.christies.org  or text OLDHAM CHRISTIE followed by your name and address to 07971-456824 to receive a fund-raising pack. The pack will have details on how to make sure your money goes to the Christie At Oldham Appeal. Cheques should be made payable to The Christie (Oldham Evening Chronicle) and sent to the Appeals Office, 555 Wilmslow Road, Manchester, M20 4BX. If sending cash, enclose a covering letter to say it is for the Christie At Oldham campaign.