MORE than £26,000 has been given to Cancer Research UK from donations and fundraising events across Wyre Forest in the last 12 months.

The figure means the charity’s local fundraising committee is responsible for amassing £785,000 for research into the disease in the 46 years since it was set up.

Highlights of the year included a charity 50-mile canoe challenge on the River Severn organised by Neil Evans, from Bewdley, which raised a £6,500.

In Memoriam donations in memory of loved ones topped £9,000 and the committee’s annual lunch raised £2,300.

A collection at the Shelsley Hill Climb raised £1,000, as did the sale of knitted Easter chicks.

A Big Breakfast dished up in Hartlebury by local members supporters brought in another £1,000, and a prize draw, World Cancer Day collection and Tesco Turns Pink event totalled £1,500.

Collection boxes at locations throughout the district accounted for almost £500 and a jazz night raised £740, whilst a golden wedding donation, including £400 match funding form Lloyds Bank, raised £800.

Other significant donations included more than £500 raised by Bewdley High School, £300 from Summerhill School, Kingswinford, and £374 from Kidderminster Golf Club.

Chairman Peter Tomlinson said: “It’s been another very successful year of fundraising and we are so grateful, as ever, for the generosity and support of so many people across the Wyre Forest district and beyond.”

The next fundraising events on the committee’s calendar are a Big Breakfast at Hartlebury Village Hall on Saturday March 17, from 9am until 1pm, and a Gardeners’ Question Time at Hallmark Hotel Stourport Manor, on Thursday March 22, at 7.30pm. For tickets and more details call 01562 823825.