This year saw the Telegraph & Argus announce its biggest and most ambitious appeal to date – to raise £1 million to fight cancer here in the city.
And thanks to your generosity, just seven months in, the T&A Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal has already raised more than £100,000.
On May 1, we asked for your help to buy Bradford University scientists a high-tech mass spectrometer, which will allow them to research potential cancer treatments faster than ever before.
Within days of launching the campaign, donations had started pouring in, and the appeal received its first major boost with a £500 donation from the Pakistan Society of West Yorkshire.
High profile backers included former Bradford City goalkeeper Matt Duke, who spoke of his battle with testicular cancer, TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh and Bradford University’s Chancellor and former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan.
Our first fundraiser was the owner of Ishico in Shipley, Mohammed Ishfaq, 58, who took part in his first ever parachute jump to collect cash for the appeal.
Staff at Morrisons’ Bradford headquarters joined in the fun by ‘dressing down for a pound’ to raise an impressive £1,846, while members of Yorkshire Sikh Forum gave more than £200 during its annual Vaisakhi dinner.
Husband and wife team Geoffrey and Janet Green joined forced with Simon Grybas, of Bradford’s Dubrovnik Hotel, to host a Yorkshire Day dinner for the appeal, which raised £1,220.
Guests at the T&A Bradford Means Business Awards raised a huge £2,200 during a game of ‘stand up, sit down’ bingo, while 86-year-old Thomas Woods tackled a bike ride through the Yorkshire Dales to collect more than £525 in sponsorship.
Other fundraisers so far have included trade union Unite, guests at the World Curry Festival’s finale dinner, GP surgeries selling the T&A Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal pin badges and the sale of an official campaign Christmas card.
The appeal got a special festive gift from students at Bradford University, who collected more than £110,000 in pledges and donations from alumni during an annual telethon.
As well as organising fundraising events, others have bravely shared their stories about their own battles with cancer to highlight the importance of the appeal. Bradford University director of students Nadira Mirza, who was diagnosed breast cancer at the age of 45 in 2001, told of her gruelling treatment and how research funded by the campaign could make a difference to the lives of cancer sufferers.
Stephanie Papworth, who was six weeks pregnant when she found out she had breast cancer in July 2010, revealed how her baby Gabriel defied the odds and was born perfectly healthy despite her undergoing chemotherapy while he was in the womb.
Crocus bulbs have also been planted around the district, including during Positive Bradford Day with Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins, to raise awareness of the appeal.
Anyone who would like to support the appeal can contact the newsroom on (01274) 705295.