THE Editor of the Telegraph & Argus was given a guided tour of the University of Bradford's cancer research unit after handing over a cheque as part of a £1 million appeal.

Perry Austin-Clarke handed over a cheque for £20,000 from the Gannett Foundation, the charitable trust run by the parent company of the publishers of the T&A.

He spoke to staff and scientists at the university's Institute of Cancer Research, including Professor Laurence Patterson.

Mr Austin-Clarke said: " Being able to hand over the final £20,000 from the Gannett Foundation for the Crocus Cancer Appeal is the icing on the cake for nearly two years of fantastic fundraising efforts by our readers for this brilliant cause.

"We could never have imagined when we launched the original Bradford Can… Appeal, to set up a chair of cancer research at the university, that nearly 15 years later we would be here helping to pay for the installation of such an amazing piece of equipment which will have a massive impact on the ground-breaking work going on right here in our city to tackle this insidious disease.

"Bradford should be very proud of the work carried out at the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics and we hope our readers will continue to support its efforts through donations to Yorkshire Cancer Research which is helping to fund the running costs of the new mass spectrometer."

The cash will see the equipment used by researchers to improve the number of opportunities for the development of new cancer medicines.

The appeal started in May 2013 and was the charitable initiative between the T&A, the University, Yorkshire Cancer Research, and the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust.

The appeal reached its target in July this year after the T&A readers rallied round to hold a number of fundraising events ranging from sponsored skydives and abseils to cake sales.