CHAMPAGNE corks were popping today as the mammoth effort to raise £1 million for a life-saving scanner hit six figures.

The appeal has topped the £100,000 barrier just seven months after it started.

The running total has shot to a staggering £100,243 thanks mainly to an anonymous £10,000 donation.

But every other penny which has been pledged has been just as vital to the effort.

Meanwhile, fund-raisers have excelled themselves this week providing people with a wide range of inventive events to collect cash for SuperScan.

Drinks and biscuits were on the menu for guests at a scanner presentation and coffee evening at the Good Shepherd Church Hall, Blackburn, on Thursday, while members of Cob Wall Working Men's Club, Blackburn, enjoyed a concert.

Last night music and entertainment were enjoyed at an Asian Gala Night in King George's Hall, Blackburn.

Super runner Lisa Richardson raised a staggering £500 when she took up the ultimate challenge and ran the London Marathon for the appeal last Sunday.

The Glisten Company Ltd, confectionary manufacturers, presented SuperScan with a gift of £100 in memory of their work colleague Gemma Cowburn who was killed with her friend in a car accident.

And members of Darwen Lodge number 8066 have also pledged their support to the appeal donating £200.

The object of the appeal is to buy a magnetic resonance imaging scanner which will benefit thousands of East Lancashire people. MRI scanning can detect serious and potentially fatal conditions that escape normal diagnosis and also pinpoints sports injuries, cartilage tears in the knee joint, bone and tissue damage and fractures not visible on ordinary X-rays.

More events are planned for the scanner and just need you to support them.

Singers at Stonyhurst College are donating the proceeds of a concert they are holding on Friday, May 10 and the tickets, which cost £5, can be obtained from the Clitheroe Tourist Office.

Blackburn Amateurs will be performing Sweet Charity at Blackburn College from Monday, May 6 to Saturday, May 11. Tickets for this are available from Pat Watson on 01254 56728 and are £5 adults, £3 children.

And an evening of hair and fashion through the ages will take place at Accrington Town Hall on Wednesday, May 8, organised by Accrington Lioness Club. People who want to attend this parade can buy their tickets costing £3, from Plus 2, in Accrington, Great Harwood or Haslingden, or by ringing 01254 382644.

People wishing to donate money can contact the appeal chairmen: Terry Barber (Blackburn) on 01254 202495; Maureen Walker (Hyndburn) 234686; Ian Ashton (Darwen) 01200 442500 or 01254 703666; Mary Barnes (Ribble Valley) 01200 25386; Neil Beecham (Burnley) 01282 692684 or Peter Johnson (Pendle) 01282 863505.

Money can also be handed in at the main office of Queen's Park Hospital, at the Evening Telegraph offices, or over the counter at any branch of Lloyds, Barclays or TSB.

DONATIONS banked into the account this week include:

£10,000 anonymous.

£10 Mr and Mrs J Egan and Mr and Mrs J Goodwin.

£50 from Mr N Rawlinson in memory of his sister, Edna Gorton.

£10 J Wilson.

£100 Mrs Jena Nightingale, sales of 3D cards.

£50 Mrs M E Thomas.

£20 in memory of Joan Crook, from Mr E Collins.

£14 Tom Kay busking in the town centre.

£50 in memory of James Brindle.

£200 Darwen Lodge no 8066.

£100 in memory of Gemma Cowburn, from the Glisten Company.

£151 staff at Meggitt Electronic Systems.

£78 staff at British Aerospace, Samlesbury.

£60 Mr and Mrs Holden, Elgar Close, Blackburn.

£100 NHS Retirement Fellowship, Blackburn branch.

£857 sale of badges.

£50 stepdaughter of Mrs Phyllis Jones.

£10 B Cross, in memory of Derek Hodgson.

£5 J L and R S Perkins.

£20 JAS Trading.

£25 Mr and Mrs Lewis, in memory of Geoffrey Britnel.

£5 Winnie Linley.

£25 Whalley Methodist Evening Fellowship.

£10 Thwaites brewery, in memory of C Kisby.

£5 Mrs Forrest (Victory Lodge No 21), in memory of Ruth Bedford.

£10 Mr and Mrs Bentley, in memory of Derek Hodgson.

£1,000 Clitheroe round Table.

£103 Bowland Court Residents Association.

£30 Mr and Mrs S J Barnes.

£20.60 Moorcock Inn collecting box.

£697 Others.

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