The Telegraph & Argus Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal will be put in the spotlight during the weekly Bradford Hour on Twitter.

Every Thursday, between 8pm and 9pm, people use the hashtag #BradfordHour to promote news, events and businesses across the district.

But this week, organisers will put a focus on charitable initiatives in the city, including the T&A’s £1 million fundraising drive to pioneer new cancer treatments here in Bradford.

We started our biggest and most ambitious appeal for more than a decade on Wednesday, May 1.

The money we raise will will buy Bradford University’s Institute of Cancer Therapeutics a new, state-of-the-art mass spectrometer, which could help its scientists pioneer less toxic ways of treating the disease more than ten times faster than ever before.

The department’s last major breakthrough – a tumour-blasting ‘smart bomb’ treatment, due to begin clinical trials late this year or early next year – has the potential of destroying a tumour with virtually no side effects to the rest of the body.

It would also mean patients need treatment less regularly, causing less disruption to their lives.

We hope the new cutting-edge equipment will help scientists make similar breakthroughs, which could transform the lives of patients in the district and across the world.

But we need your help to smash our target and want to hear from anyone who can help us by raising their own fundraising events.

And anyone who wants to learn more about the appeal, and how to get involved, can find out more during this Thursday’s Bradford Hour.

Richard Barker, of Harrison Mann, which runs Bradford Hour, said this week’s event would be used to publicise charities and volunteer organisations across the city this week.

The company retweets #BradfordHour tweets from its @BradfordHour account.

He said: “Being a Bradford-based business, we set-up the @BradfordHour account to allow local people to network online and discuss important local issues. With 1,300 followers, we wanted to start doing more positive things for the local Bradford area, so ‘charity’ is a great theme as its close to many people’s hearts.

“We plan on promoting local charities and the vital work and research they do, as well as giving those interested in hearing about volunteering opportunities a chance to help.

“There’s also a lot of scope for charities to build relationships with each other.

“Most of all, we really want to get local people and businesses thinking of charities and the work they do in Bradford. If we could get more people helping them, not only with money, but with clothes donations, time or a reduced rate on a service that they may need, then that would be fantastic.”

A number of people got in touch to find out more about our appeal, which we are running with the University, Yorkshire Cancer Research and the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust, after reading about it during last week’s Bradford Hour.

To tweet about the T&A Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal, use the hashtag #crocusappeal.

To follow Bradford Hour on Twitter, visit twitter.com/bradfordhour.