A STROUD man aiming to raise £100,000 for a cancer charity in memory of his wife has hit the target a year early – and is now to fundraising for another of her favourite charities.
After Monica Waller died in April last year, husband Clive (67) pledged to raise money for Cancer Research UK (CRUK) at awards dinners, hosted by BBC newscaster Kate Silverton.
The annual Schroders UK Platform Awards event is organised by Clive’s company, CWC Research, and at the 2015 dinner he announced his target of £100,000 by September 2017.
Clive said: “By the end of 2015, £55,000 had been raised.
“As a result of this success, I decided to go for broke and try to raise the outstanding £45,000 at this year’s event, and the total stands at £100,609.
“The target gas been hit one year early, and I would like to thank everyone for their support and generosity.”
Before her death, Monica was a volunteer worker at Cancer research for more than 10-years, and the money raised will fund a researcher for two-and-a-half years.
The researcher will support immunology expert Professor Tim Elliot.
His work in the 1980s helped to unravel how the immune system identifies potential threats.
Now with support from Cancer Research UK, he is working to understand the molecular mechanisms behind immune recognition of cancer.
This information could potentially be used to design vaccinations against the disease.
Clive said: “Reaching the Cancer Research target early means that next year, we shall be raising money for another of Monica favourite charities, the Mines Advisory Group.”