YOUNG schoolchildren personally thanked the consultant who treated their much loved secretary for breast cancer.

Bolton School's junior boys raised £1,350 for the Breast Unit at the Royal Bolton Hospital after Kate Iddon underwent treatment for the illness after being diagnosed with it a year ago.

They welcomed back to school Old Girl Clare Garnsey, Mrs Iddon's consultant and surgeon to present her with £1,350.

Junior boys Alex Rowley and Haseeb Ahsan came up with the idea to raise funds and get their parents on board to boost funds further.

Sue Faulkner, headteacher of the junior boys, said: "We are delighted that Mrs Iddon is now back with us after the great work performed by Bolton Breast Unit.

"We are particularly indebted to surgeon Clare Garnsey, herself an Old Girl, who is Mrs Iddon’s consultant as well as nurse, Mal Sheridan."

Miss Garnsey said: "With the money, we are going to buy something for the operating theatre.

"My job is to remove cancer to keep people safe and sometimes you do this by removing lymph glands.

"It can be difficult to find these glands as they are no bigger than the size of a baked bean and we use a machine called a gamma probe.

"We will use the money to help buy one of these so your work will save many lives, so thank you very much."

Boys also got an insight into the life of a surgeon, with Year Six boy Billy Burrows modelling the clothes worn in a operating theatre.

Mrs Iddon, who is also a Bolton School Old Girl said: "I received outstanding treatment at the RBH under Miss Garney’s excellent care and I am currently very well and delighted to be back at Park Road.

"I am immensely proud of the boys for their efforts and the generosity of the parents who bought raffle tickets."