WE want to say a big 'thank-you' to the people of the Darwen area for their magnificent support in recent weeks.

They are those who gave and helped with our house-to-house collection which raised £1,860; Arnold Duckworth who gave half his recent concert proceeds - £185 - to the appeal; the panel of our Gardening Question Time and the customer of Paul Ainsworth who donated £9 to make the profit from this up to £110; all who gave to or bought from our Petticoat Lane stall which raised £471, and those who supported our Scottish salmon and strawberries evening which raised £85 profit.

We have a number of events coming up over the summer including an Ascot evening, sponsored bike ride, garden party and, of course, our stall at Darwen Gala as well as plans for the autumn.

We have had tremendous support since the Darwen committee was formed in 1959 and, from past experience, we know we can depend on the generosity of everyone to help us to equal, or hopefully exceed, our fund-raising record of last year in the town of £16,500.

LINDA CHATBURN, Darwen Committee publicity officer, Cancer Research Campaign.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.