Haverhill Rugby Club donates thousands of pounds to charity
Haverhill Rugby Club has presented Macmillan Cancer Support with a cheque for £6,100.
Macmillan was chosen as the club’s charity last season, in support of Chris ‘Pappy’ Brown, a long-standing player and supporter who has cancer.
The money has been raised by donations from the club’s supporters and friends during matches, and at four Vice President lunches in the season.
A large amount was also raised by supporters who took part in a ‘Nuclear’ obstacle race.
Club president Dave Quinney Sr, said: “I would like to say a massive thank you to everybody who donated time and money to this worthwhile cause.
“It will make such a difference to all those affected by this illness.
“Our aim next season is to collect and donate to charities within Haverhill, therefore, benefitting the Haverhill community, whilst promoting Haverhill Rugby Club’s charitable work.”
Macmillan’s fundraising manager for West Norfolk and West Suffolk, Nicola Clark, said: “Ninety nine per cent of the funds that we receive to provide our services for people affected by cancer come in via donations and fundraising activities.
“We simply can’t support the people we do without the kind of generosity that has been shown by the Rugby Club who have involved so many people to raise this fantastic amount.
“I would like once again to say a huge thank you to everyone involved.
“No one should have to face cancer alone and events like this help us be there for people with cancer and their family when they need us most.”
Macmillan provides, medical, financial, practical and emotional support to people along their cancer journey.
Sadly though we just can’t be there for everyone who needs our support so we need to ask for more people to get involved with charity. For information on how you can get involved in supporting us locally call 0300 1000 200 .
Nicola said: “There are many ways we could use the funds that have been raised to support local people affected by cancer.”
“For example, £3,500 could keep a typical Macmillan information and support centre like the one at West Suffolk Hospital stocked with all the information resources it needs to support people affected by cancer for a year.”
These resources would include booklets, guides, directories and leaflets.
The money raised could also help ease the financial worries someone affected by cancer may be facing.
Four out of five people are around £570 worse off because of their cancer diagnosis.
This can be through loss of earnings, the cost of travelling to hospital appointments and additional heating costs, as someone going through cancer treatment will feel the cold more.
On average, every person who receives benefits advice from one of our face-to-face benefits advisers will be told that they can claim £2,788 a year in benefits that they are not currently claiming.
Nicola went onto say: “Every £10 we spend on a face-to-face benefits adviser helps people affected by cancer claim £269.60 in benefits they are entitled to.”
To access support from Macmillan visit www.macmillan.org.uk or call 0808 808 00 00.
