ORGANISERS of Motorway Superwalk '97 were astounded at the 5,000 people who brought the SuperScan appeal one step closer to its target of buying a life-saving MRI scanner for East Lancashire people.

They raised more than £150,000 smashing the £100,000 target.

The sell-out collection of 6,000 Reebok scanner T-shirts boosted the total raised by £18,000.

Mr Ian Woolley, Superwalk chairman, who revealed that the appeal would reach its target by Christmas, said: "It was amazing that people supported us in such a huge way.

"We have had fantastic support from ordinary people all over East Lancashire and it has give the scanner appeal a huge boost. This was probably the biggest amount of money ever raised in Lancashire on one day for charity."

But he added: "The death of Princess Diana put a cloud over the event and the weather was terrible. But despite these setbacks, people's spirits were high."

Mr Woolley presented a platinum award to Bob Jones, regional director for motorway contractors Alfred McAlpine MEC (Joint Venture) who donated £1 per walker.

Reg Arathoon of AMEC was presented with a gold award for helping to plan the walk.

Mike Trickett, SuperScan appeal chairman, said: "We were overwhelmed with the response from people. A lot of people just turned up on the day as well as the registered walkers. We were very touched."

Ewan Dyda, site manager at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, where the scanner will eventually be based, said: "Nurses, GPs and other staff took part in the walk.

"The scanner is a very vital piece of equipment. It detects life-threatening conditions and helps investigations into sports injuries."

East Lancashire Rotary clubs and Lions, the Highways Agency and Brown and Root Consulting Engineers all helped with the walk.

Walkers, who feasted on bacon sandwiches and burgers en-route, were given badges and certificates and also took part in a raffle for a mountain bike and a draw for a holiday for two.

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