Thanks to the continued support and goodwill from the public, over £9 million has now been raised for the new Dyson Cancer Centre, due to be built at Bath’s RUH in 2019.
The Forever Friends Appeal, the RUH’s fundraising charity, launched the Cancer Care Campaign five years ago in response to the hospital’s Fit for the Future redevelopment opportunity, to transform cancer care for its patients and their families.
Tim Hobbs, Head of Fundraising, The Forever Friends Appeal said: “We are delighted and very grateful for the support and goodwill from the public – back in February, we announced we had reached our minimum fundraising target of £8.5million and that our supporters very much wanted us to sustain the campaign.
“Six months later, we’ve reached another significant milestone, ensuring the Cancer Centre will be truly special in its design, facilities and equipment.
“The fundraising efforts that people go to, to raise money for the centre always amaze me – recently we’ve received £15,000 from a group of friends from Marshfield who cycled the length of the country, our newest community group in Bath have handed us a cheque for £10,000 and some of the funds raised at our recent and most popular Movie by Moonlight event have gone to our Cancer Care Campaign.”
“I would like to personally thank everyone for their support and contributions. Fundraising in the fight against cancer never stops, and as we enter our 20th year of fundraising for the RUH we will continue to support this amazing project to achieve the very best care, treatment and quality of environment for our patients.
“We are hoping to reach at least £9.5m for the new Cancer Centre over the next year.”
Construction of the new Dyson Cancer Centre is due to commence once the new RNHRD and Therapies Centre is in place.
The Forever Friends Appeal is also currently fundraising £2 million towards the build of the RNHRD and Therapies Centre and would like to encourage the public to support its Therapies Matter campaign to help raise the final £450K needed.
The Therapies Matter Campaign was also a beneficiary of the very successful Movie By Moonlight event.
With a match-funding scheme supporting the campaign thanks to the Brownsword Challenge, every £1 pound donated to Therapies Matter will be doubled.
Other vital services in the RUH are also receiving fundraising support by The Forever Friends Appeal, and the fundraising team are hoping to announce soon an exciting match-funding challenge for their four new Special Appeals – raising funds for the Facial Surgery and Orthodontics Department, the Critical Care Unit, the Breast Unit and the Friendly Faces Project – part of the hospital’s dementia services.
There are a number of ways to get involved in fundraising and anyone interested is invited to visit the Appeal’s website, email: [email protected] or call 01225 825691.