THE Superscan Appeal has reached the magic halfway mark. More than £500,000 has now been raised towards the scanner - and appeal organisers hope to hit £600,000 soon.

The chairman of the appeal, Mike Trickett, said: "It is a great deal of money. I would like to pay tribute to the members of all the Superscan area committees who have worked so hard to raise this magnificent sum.

"We now know that we have to raise less money then we have collected and it is a huge psychological boost. We have planned some large and spectacular events to raise money throughout the summer, including Superwalk 97, but we still need all the help and support we can get to ensure that the MRI scanner is installed and operational by the spring of 1998."

Superwalk 97, which gives people a chance to walk along the new seven mile stretch of the M65 on August 31, now has over 1,000 entrants. Entries include a team from Calderstones who will be attempting a bed push.

All the money raised will go towards buying the life-saving Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, which detects a wide variety of serious illnesses and conditions.

The scanner, which costs around £850,000, will be housed at Blackburn Royal Infirmary and will benefit the whole of East Lancashire.

Anyone wishing to register for the Superwalk, either as an individual or as a team, can do so by phoning the hotline during office hours on 293257, or 294754 after 5pm.

Anyone who would like to raise money for the scanner with a different event can ring their local organisers: in Darwen - Ian Ashton, 703666; Hyndburn - Jan Pettit, 707162; or Blackburn - Terry Barber, 202495.

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