£10,000 and more for Bristol breast cancer services

Fundraisers Peter and Maureen Green, with the boys brigade and friends, have raised £10,000 for Bristol breast cancer services.

And they are looking to raise more still.

Back, from left, Maureen Green, Peter Green, Anthony Green, Diane Bailey, Catherine Stephenson. Front, from left, Fraser Middel, 15, Mathew Green and David Harris, 16

Today is the last day of Breast Cancer Awareness month, but the team's fundraising effort gets underway in December.

They have driven a Christmas float in Shortwvood for more than 10 years, and have raised £38,000, with £10,700 going to Bristol Breast Unit at St Michael's Hospital.

"We have been taking the float out and raising money for years and years, and one Christmas the wife of one of the helpers had developed breast cancer so we started to support the breast unit and since then the money has crept up and up and up," said Mr Green, 72.

Mr Green, a former lorry driver, and his colleagues started using the float in 1990, when they collected money for CLIC Sargent.

In 1996 they started collecting for the breast cancer unit, with funds going through Above and Beyond charities.

They acquired the float for the Bristol Carnival in 1983 to commemorate 100 years of the Boys Brigade.

Mrs Green, 64, a former dinner lady at Mangotsfield School, prepares refreshments for the fundraisers when they get in.

The float, adorned with Christmas lights and decorations, drives around Mangotsfield, Pucklechurch, Wick, Staple Hill and Downend.

They will start collecting money on December 6, and are spending the next month preparing the float.

Above and Beyond enables people to donate directly to the hospital unit or department of their choice.

The charity hopes people in the city will contribute to their breast cancer appeal to buy equipment and fund research at the hospital, by exchanging a lunch treat for a donation or making a contribution online.

"Instead of buying that extra cappuccino, low fat chocolate bar, or anti-wrinkle cream, spare a thought for those who have been touched by breast cancer this year and put the money towards something more lasting," said fundraising manager Lucy Smith.

To make a donation for Bristol breast cancer services visit www.justgiving.com/aboveandbeyond.