The Cancer Research UK Relay for Life is back in Rossendale and they want you and your friends and family to take part.

This is the eleventh time Relay For Life has taken place in Rossendale and Cancer Research UK are encouraging friends, family and work colleagues to get together and enter Relay For Life. The event is a unique celebration of life and hope which unites communities to help beat over 200 types of cancer.

Teams of between eight to 15 people, of all ages, levels of fitness and from all walks of life are needed to take part at Marl Pits Leisure Centre over the weekend of the 17 and 18 June.

Participants are asked to raise as much money as possible in the months leading up to the Relay through a wide range of fundraising activities and securing donations from friends, families and work colleagues.

Jacqui Kemp, volunteer Chair of Cancer Research UK’s Relay For Life in Rossendale, said: “Relay For Life is a great way to spend time with your friends, family and colleagues while raising money for a truly worthwhile cause.” During the Relay itself, team members take it in turns to walk round a track while everyone else enjoys a wide range of fun activities on offer. As Relay For Life is non-stop through the night, those team members not on the track can take turns to rest, eat, or sleep in their tents which are set up close by. Jacqui continued: “More than one in three people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives. Taking part in Relay For Life is about being part of a community united in the belief that it can make a difference and help beat cancer. We have made so much progress in the fight against this devastating disease, but it’s not just technology or knowledge that we need to win the battle to beat cancer– it’s funding.”

As dusk falls, the atmosphere quietens as the Candle of Hope ceremony begins. This event is the most poignant part of Relay For Life as specially made Candle of Hope bags are filled with sand and lit up with candles around the track at Marl Pits Leisure Centre. The Candle of Hope bags are decorated with touching messages in memory or celebration of loved ones and is an emotional highlight of the event,

Money raised through Relay For Life funds the work of thousands of scientists, doctors and nurses who are dedicated to saving more lives by preventing, controlling and curing all cancers. Thanks to Cancer Research UK’s work, more people are surviving cancer than ever before. Survival rates have doubled over the last 40 years and the charity’s work has been at the heart of that progress.

But despite improvements in treatment, cancer causes more than one in four of all deaths in the UK. Cancer Research UK wants to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured and needs the help of people in Rossendale to help save many more lives.

For more information about Relay For Life visit cruk.org/relay or call 0871 641 2602.