Staff at a Dundee butcher’s shop are joining the rallying call to boost the numbers joining the annual Race For Life at Camperdown Park next month.
Nearly 4000 women took part in last year’s event for Cancer Research UK but with little over a month to go until the 2011 event, only around 1500 women have signed up.
The team from Scott Brothers in the Nethergate have a double reason to remain totally committed to participation in the June 19 event, as well as having the support of customers who have dropped nearly £600 in small change into a collection box on the shop counter.
Manager Alex Leith lost his wife Dot to breast cancer in January and, two days before Christmas on the day Dot was told her cancer was terminal Irene Stewart was diagnosed with cancer. Irene is the mother of Alex’s colleague Linda.
Linda and a team of women at the shop have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into participating in Race For Life and fund-raising for the charity.
Linda said, “We have put a box on the counter with a homemade sign that says ‘Please help support our girls’ and it is just coppers that has been going into it from customers’ change but up to now we’ve got nearly £600 out of that box.”
She is hoping that around £1000 will be raised through the collection box and a further £1000 from the team’s individual sponsor sheets.
“There have been two or three people telling us of their personal experiences of cancer and other customers who have family members with cancer,” Linda said. “Also, a lot of people knew Dot. We are doing this for a great cause.”
One of her biggest hopes is that Irene will be well enough on the day to go to Camperdown and cheer the team on.Pretty in Pink: our photo gallery of the 2010 Race for Life“She is doing well at the moment,” Linda said. “I am hoping my mum will be able to come along but it depends how she is feeling on the day. I am sure she will be there if at all possible.”
Their commitment is music to the ears of John Fyall from Cancer Research UK. The charity is trying to boost participation in events across the country and has recruited Gloria Hunniford, who lost her only daughter Caron Keating to breast cancer seven years ago.
Gloria is fronting a campaign to increase the race numbers and her face is plastered across Dundee buses, appealing for people to get involved.
“This year there is a problem as recruitment for events across Scotland is significantly down,” Gloria said, “and if fewer women take part there will be less money to fund research, which in turn means fewer lives saved in the future.
“Girls, it only takes one hour to walk it and in that same period of time three people will be diagnosed with cancer in Scotland.”
Mr Fyall said that, despite the disappointing numbers signed up so far for the Camperdown Race For Life, there was no threat it would be cancelled.
“We have around 1500 which is not enough and we obviously need more but there is no question the event is going ahead,” he said. “It is going to be a tremendous success.
“The support we get from women in Dundee and across the country is fantastic but we would just like to take the opportunity to say to women, if they have not already signed up, now would be a great time to do it.”You can enter the Race for Life by calling 0871 641 1111 or visiting www.raceforlife.org