Farming auction to support cancer centre appeal

A fundraising farming auction is being planned to support a £5m appeal for a new cancer treatment centre.

Farmers have been invited to donate livestock or make a cash donation at the event on 7 April, which will be held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Halls auction centre in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Money raised will go to Lingen Davies Cancer Support, which said the new facility in Telford would "double the capacity of chemotherapy provision" in the area.

The group launched their Sunflower Appeal to raise the money last year and said it was their biggest appeal to date.

The new facility will have up to 30 chemotherapy bays, outpatient clinics, a specialist urology investigations unit and a lung diagnostic centre, the charity said.

Currently patients from Telford have to travel to the Lingen Davies centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for treatment and a spokesperson said the new centre would allow them to get treated closer to home.

The idea for the auction came from Stuart Ashley, a sheep and beef farmer from Cothercott, near Shrewsbury, who is also a member of the fundraising committee.

Ashley said he would donate a hogget to the auction and hoped other farmers would get behind the event.

"Most farmers will either have lost someone to cancer or have a family member or friend who has been successfully treated or is currently having treatment," he said.

The auction was "a chance for us farmers to all work together to do something good," he added.

Ashley said nobody would be under pressure to donate but "every little bit helps".

Halls director James Evans said: "This is our chance to give back to enable the charity to support even more patients."

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