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Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron, recently made time in his hectic schedule to meet with Cancer Research Chief Executive, Harpal Kumar, and a number of his Witney constituents involved with the town’s first ever Relay For Life.

David Cameron presented each of them with a signed certificate in recognition of their role in smashing the event’s fundraising target and raising over £50,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Mr Cameron said: “Everyone involved in staging such a successful first Cancer Research UK Relay For Life in Witney should be proud of what they achieved. It is important to stop and think about the way cancer touches our lives.

“We should celebrate the memory of those no longer with us because of cancer, as well as those who have survived because of the cutting edge research conducted by Cancer Research UK and made possible by the generosity of its supporters.”

Harpal Kumar told the Conservative leader how the money raised will help to finance the continuation of the charity’s life-saving work. Mr Kumar said: “I very much appreciate David Cameron's support for the first ever Relay For Life in Witney. Everyone involved should be congratulated for its fantastic success. The money raised will help to make a real difference in our determination to beat cancer.”Relay chair Mr Jessel - a squadron leader based at RAF Brize Norton who has supported Cancer Research UK for many years since losing his mother to cancer - said: “It is great to see our local MP showing he's behind people affected by cancer in Witney.”

Witney schoolgirl, Hannah Paish, gave David Cameron an emotional insight into her participation in the world’s largest fundraising event series.

Hannah, aged 15, joined several hundred people who recently came together for the town’s first ever 24-hour Cancer Research UK Relay For Life. Among them were 40 cancer survivors and many more who had been bereaved. Hannah, who was part of a team from 4th Witney Girl Guides, lost her beloved grandfather, Richard Paish, to stomach cancer. Her grandmother, Delma, who is president of the Charlbury District Guide Association, has survived breast cancer.

Hannah showed Mr Cameron a special ‘candle bag’ - used by Relay For Life participants to remember loved ones and celebrate survivors during a Candle Of Hope ceremony - bearing the message: “My Gran. My Survivor.”

The Henry Box School pupil, from Burwell Meadow, Witney, said it was a “great honour” to meet Mr Cameron for a second time, having met him around five years ago when he presented her with a posy as an attendant to the May Queen at nearby Charlbury.

Hannah was among a group being presented with certificates by Mr Cameron to celebrate the success of Relay For Life an event which sees teams from all sections of the community take turns to walk, run, skip or crawl around a track. Relay For Life started 20 years ago in America and has since raised a staggering one and a half billion dollars after being embraced by 22 countries.

Among the group who met Mr Cameron were Debbie O'Sullivan, from Curbridge, who lost her father to leukaemia, and Alan Bradley, 60, and Linda Souch, 44, who have both battled cancer in recent years. And a special mention was reserved for Barry Jessel, as chair of the committee which organised the event, and Elaine Humphris, whose team raised £3,000.

On Wednesday 26th March Cancer Research UK supporters met with their MPs in Parliament to lobby them about the Screening Matters campaign. This first lobby by our CancerCampaigns Ambassadors was a huge success, with our Ambassadors securing commitments from their MPs to help us improve the state of screening in the UK. Actions which MPs promised to take include:

• Signing Early Day Motion 961 in support of the Screening Matters campaign
• Meeting with the Chief Executive of their Primary Care Trust to discuss local screening programmes
• Raising awareness of the issue by visiting a local screening unit or community group

For more information please see our Ambassadors page

Politicians donned lab coats and demonstrated their support for National Science and Engineering Week by visiting Cancer Research UK institutes for a ‘behind the scenes’ tour. Politicians visited our institutes in London, Cambridge and Newcastle to find out more about how we are working to understand and beat cancer across the UK. 

These visits helped to raise awareness of the important role that science, engineering and technology play in our lives. For more information about the visits please see our events page