RIBBLE Valley volunteers have issued a rallying call for people to help raise the £200,000 needed for revolutionary scanner equipment in East Lancs.

Patients with suspected cancer of the throat, stomach, liver or pancreas cancer currently have to travel to Liverpool or Manchester to use similar scanning equipment.

The team of volunteers, led by former Ribble Valley Borough Council leader Sheila Maw, hope to encourage communities into action for the Magic Eye Appeal.They have set themselves a £50,000 target for the next 12 months.

The Mayor of the Ribble Valley, Coun Joyce Holgate, has agreed to hold a special coffee morning at the town hall.

Sheila, a former chairman of Communicare NHS Community Health Trust, said: "If health authorities cannot afford it, then it is down to us to make sure the money is found."

Evening dances, leaflet distribution and coffee mornings have all been organised but Sheila said there was still "lots to be done".

"We are encouraging people to come to us with fundraising ideas and organise their own events for the campaign".

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph appeal will fund an endoscopic ultrasound for the benefit of the whole of East Lancs, providing pinpoint diagnosis to detect cancers more quickly and accurately than at present.

Anyone who can help with an event should contact Mrs Maw on 01254 823136 or write to her at Lower Clerk Hill, Whalley, Clitheroe, BB7 9DR.