A Shap fundraising flag bearer has been celebrated by a national cancer charity for her 25 years of hard work during which she had raised more than £10,000.
Glenis Furness, 64, was contacted by Macmillan Cancer Support’s national fundraising manager to commemorate the two-and-a-half decades she has hosted her annual coffee morning in aid of the charity.
Since 1997, Glenis and her revolving cast of helpers have baked cakes, held raffles and made teas and coffees to raise much-needed cash for a good cause.
She said: “I just read something in a paper or magazine asking for people to host coffee mornings and thought ‘yeah, I could do that’. I then gathered some friends, because you can’t do these things alone, and we did it. It’s grown and developed from there. It just seems like the right thing to do.”
Glenis’ mum died of cancer and she said that the disease touches the lives of everyone nowadays which is why she is so keen to keep supporting the charity.
Originally held in the village’s school, Glenis now runs her event in Shap memorial hall where each year around eight volunteers run the morning along with a raffle and tombola. It is part of the charity’s national event which sees people up and down the country hosting coffee mornings.
This year’s event was held at the end of September and saw the Shap community donate £738.25, which Glenis said was not the most she has had in one year but was “very good going”.
After 25 years the Shap team’s grand total comes to £10,016.15.
That money could fund a Macmillan nurse for 313 hours, giving expert medical, emotional and practical support to people living with cancer; a total of 28.5 financial grants to help people on low incomes deal with cancer; or run the entire information Macmillan support line phone service for 25.5 hours.
Rose Tipton, Macmillan’s fundraising manager, congratulated the Shap fundraiser over the phone and followed it up with a letter where she praised the “incredible achievement” of Glenis and her team.
Every two minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer meaning more than three million people are currently living with the disease, set to raise to four million by 2030.
