Sports personalities and soap stars joined medics and charity workers at a glamorous 'Back to the 80s' ball and raised a magnificent �51,000 for the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Paterson Institute at the Christie Hospital.

Sports personalities and soap stars joined medics and charity workers at a glamorous ‘Back to the 80s’ ball and raised a magnificent �51,000 for the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Paterson Institute at the Christie Hospital.

The Point at Lancashire Cricket Ground was the venue where celebrities mingled with world-class cancer research scientists and breast cancer clinicians for the Boot Out Breast Cancer ‘Back to the 80s’ ball.

Over 450 guests, including Nikki Sanderson, Alan Shearer, Paralympic cyclist Sarah Storey, boxer Jamie Moore and news presenter Lucy Meacock were treated to dinner, followed by 80s entertainment from Heaven 17, Go West and Radio 1 DJ Nihal. The Boot Out charity, founded by Debbie Dowie, wife of former footballer, manager and now television pundit, Iain, hopes to raise �120,000 for a robotic liquid handling platform for the Breakthrough Research Centre.

Auction prizes on the night included a round of golf with Alan Shearer, which went for �2,500, and JLS tickets with backstage passes donated by Rio Ferdinand went for �2,500.

Debbie Dowie said: ‘Nearly 48,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, with over 2,200 of these women being in Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Manchester’s Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre brings together a world-class team of scientists who want to achieve a future free from the fear of breast cancer. We want to help them by raising �120,000 for an advanced and vital piece of machinery that speeds up the pace of research and helps bring new and improved treatments to patients much faster.

‘I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, and I have been one of the lucky ones in that my cancer was discovered early and my prognosis was very good. But I know that for some this is not the case. That’s why fundraising and events like these are so vitally important,’ she said.

For more details about the charity visit www.bootoutbreastcancer.org.uk

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DARREN NELSON

The print version of this article appeared in the May 2012 issue of Cheshire Life

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