SIR: Hello, I'm Honor Blackman, and I'm appealing to all your female readers who are 55 or over and are thinking of taking part in the London Marathon. As some of you will now be applying for 1997 London Marathon places, I wanted to take this opportunity to mention a special fund-raising initiative being organised by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

The charity is organising a group call the 'Imperial Belles', which aims to recruit women aged 55 or over to run the 26 mile course and raise more than £35,000 for its vital cancer research programme. In this year's London Marathon a similar group of women raised around £28,000.

As a charity, Imperial Cancer relies overwhelmingly on public support to help raise £53 million per year to fund its vital cancer research programme.

For further information on how to join the 'Imperial Belles' please telephone Alexa Estub on 0171 269 3412 who will be happy to supply you with more details.

Good luck and I hope if you take part, that you enjoy the run.

Honor Blackman.

Imperial Cancer Research Fund

P O Box 123

Lincoln's Inn Fields

London WC2A 3PXhi

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