IT'S official! Bolton people are warm-hearted and generous creatures.

The Marie Curie Cancer Care 50th Birthday Appeal - backed by the BEN - was launched in February last year and raised more than £30,000 in Bolton alone.

The money has helped provide an extra 4,000 nursing hours for local people seriously ill with cancer, allowing them to spend as much time as possible in the comfort of their own homes.

Marie Curie Cancer Care have more than 6,000 community cancer care nurses and 22 of those nurses work in Bolton, supporting families caring for a relative with cancer.

Last year they cared for 85 people in their own homes and gave some 8,571 hours of nursing care.

Daffodil

The Marie Curie 50th Birthday Campaign was backed by the Bolton Evening News, whose editor-in-chief, Mark Rossiter led the local fund-raising efforts, including the Field of Hope in Moss Bank Park, a sportsman's dinner, daffodil campaign street collections, abseils, and "spookathons".

These events plus many generous donations from the public led to more than £30,000 being raised.

Mr Rossiter said: "We are delighted to have raised this amount for the Marie Curie Nursing Service in Bolton to mark 50 years of cancer care in our community, and it is good to see that Bolton people are indeed generous by nature."

Anne Gillespie, community nurse manager for Bolton NHS Trust, presented Mr Rossiter with a certificate of appreciation in recognition of the BEN's support of the Marie Curie campaign.

And area fund-raiser, Lesley Jackson, praised the BEN for its coverage of fund-raising events.

She said: "The publicity was a great help to us in getting the message across to the people of Bolton about our 50th Birthday Appeal and the money raised will be ploughed back into the Marie Curie Nursing Service in Bolton for those who need it in the future."

Help is still needed for the Bolton Daffodil Day tomorrow. If you would like to help for a few hours ring the fund-raising office on 0161 480 3002.

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