A celebration of all things Yorkshire raised £1,220 for the Telegraph & Argus Bradford Crocus Appeal.

More than 65 diners gathered in the sunshine at the Dubrovnik Hotel in Manningham for a Yorkshire Day dinner in support of our £1 million fundraising campaign to pioneer new cancer treatments here in the city.

The event was organised by Geoffrey and Janet Green, who joined forces with Simon Grybas, from the hotel. It was the first in a series of events which will raise cash for the appeal.

The T&A Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal aims to buy Bradford University’s Institute of Cancer Therapeutics (ICT) a new high-tech mass spectrometer, which could hold the key to its scientists making a vital discovery in the fight against cancer.

This will allow scientists to study proteins in cancer ten times faster then ever before, Proteins play a key role in cancer and could hold the breakthrough to developing new treatments without the side effects of chemotherapy.

The director of the University’s ICT, Professor Laurence Patterson, who was joined by Denise Taj, the ICT’s development officer, spoke to guests about the fundraising campaign before the four-course dinner.

Mr Green, whose father was a patient of Professor Robert Turner, who pioneered chemotherapy treatment in Bradford, said: “We had a truly brilliant evening, which can be judged by the generosity of guests and their comments.

“The evening was described by one guest as an exceptional event.”

The hotel gave £10 from each ticket sale to the appeal and extra donations were made during a raffle.

Mr and Mrs Green were previously involved in raising money for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal in 1991/92, when Councillor Sydney Collard was supporting Bradford War on Cancer.

Mr Green said a number of other events were being organised to support the appeal, being run in collaboration with the University, Yorkshire Cancer Research and the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust.