A charity which has been forced to fold despite raising more than £500,000 for people with chest and throat complications could be resurrected next year.

Lungs For Life (LFL) will cease operating in October. However Dr Duncan Newton, clinical director of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said he hoped LFL would be up and running again in 2007.

Dr Newton said: "The charity has played a vital role in serving the people of Bradford and I would like to thank the people for supporting it.

"I would also like to thank Alan Mearns and trustee Elaine Beldon in particular."

Dr Newton added Dr Dinseh Saralaya, a consultant respiratory physician for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, was looking at re-starting LFL next year.

"The role of the charity will be slightly different as these days we do a lot more preventative work," said Dr Newton.

"We hope to re-start the charity in 2007."

LFL was founded in 1990 by world-renowned surgeons Sabaratnam Sabanathan and Alan Mearns alongside BRI medical secretary Elaine Beldon.

Shortly after the LFL appeal was established, Mr Sabanathan, who died in 1997, performed Bradford's first lung transplant.

Mrs Beldon said: "We started the fund to pay for the first lung transplant but we also decided we wanted to help anyone with a disease of the chest.

"Over the years, every time the hospital has wanted a piece of equipment in lung surgery they have come to us."

Mrs Beldon now hopes the charity will go out with a bang.

She has arranged a cabaret evening on Friday at the Midland Hotel, Forster Square, at 8pm.

Broadcaster John Helm will host a fundraising auction. Items up-for-grabs include paintings, household goods and photography and beauty vouchers.

Bradford band Black Onyx will perform supported by singer Jeff Lee Walker.

Mrs Beldon added: "A charity needs new blood to keep it going. Myself and the other trustees are now ready to retire and we have not been able to recruit younger people. It is the end of an era. But I feel proud of what we have achieved."

Tickets for the Lungs For Life event, priced £7.50, are available by contacting (01274) 364363 or on the door.