KIND-HEARTED staff at a Pendle store have been praised by hospital scientists and doctors after raising £56,000.

The money raised by Boundary Mill Stores, Colne, will help specialists at Christie Hospital, Manchester, decide more precisely the best treatment for cancer patients.

Around £30,000 of the money came from owner Richard Bannister who donated 15,000 umbrellas which were sold for £2 each. The Boundary Mill staff were so successful that they exceeded their target by £6,000.

Of the total, £50,000 has bought a computerised image analysis microscope and the extra £6,000 has been given to the cancer research and treatment centre's LEAP Appeal towards an eight-bed extension at the leukaemia unit.

Mr Bannister and his wife Janine presented the image analyser to the hospital's department of carcinogenesis, which studies the causes of cancer.

Dr Geoff Margison, deputy head of the department, said: "We are extremely grateful to Boundary Mill and to Mr and Mrs Bannister for this wonderful donation.

"The equipment has many benefits, perhaps the most important being that we shall be able to predict if a tumour will respond to the usual treatment or if alternative treatment would be advisable.

"Eventually we hope the machine will enable us to predict tumour responses to most of the treatments used here."

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