More than £10k raised at Rasen charity event

The annual shopping extravaganza is held in aid of the blood cancer charity Bloodwise.

Shoppers from across Lincolnshire - and further afield - turned out to get ahead with their seasonal shopping at the 50 plus stalls.

Birdie Dawson, Chair of the Grimsby & District Branch of Bloodwise said: “Thank you to everyone who supported us and helped raise this fantastic amount.

“I hope you will be back next year.

“Our stallholders are all amazing, they take such pride sourcing their stock and without them we wouldn’t have an event.”

One of those stallholders was Simon Marrison, owner of The Cheese and Pie Man, who travelled from his Essex base to support the event.

He said: “I have been coming to this event for the past seven or eight years and it is fantastic.

“It is one event I will always come to personally, as it is such a good charity and the organisers here do a great job.

“It is always a pleasure to be here and meet everyone.”

Organising the event for the Grimsby & District Branch of Bloodwise is Eleanor Dyson, who was thrilled with how it all went.

She said; “We try and make sure we have a good mix of stalls every year.

“This year, we have about 30 per cent of returning stalls and 70 per cent new stalls, which means there is something different for people to see each year and help us raise as much money as possible.

“I can’t thank everyone enough for their support - our volunteers, the stallholders and of course our shoppers.”

The Bloodwise charity funds life-saving scientific research to find the causes and more effective treatments for blood cancers, such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

It invests heavily in scientific research including clinical drugs trials, with more than £85million currently invested in 152 different blood cancer research projects across the UK.

In the UK, 1 in 19 people will be diagnosed with blood cancer in their lifetime, with blood cancers claiming the lives of more than 15,000 people each year – more than breast cancer or prostate cancer.

Sarah Dunning, Regional Relationships Manager for Bloodwise said: “Our fabulous Grimsby & District Branch have organised the Shopping Extravaganza for the last 31 years and the event has grown from strength to strength.

“It’s because of amazing people like them and their second to none commitment to beating blood cancer, that we’re able to continue our life saving research.

“Awareness of blood cancer is low, despite it being the fifth most common cancer and the third biggest cancer killer, taking the lives of more people than breast cancer or prostate cancer each year.

“Because of the spectacular support from our Grimsby & District Branch and all of their supporters, we forecast that as long as we keep funding, blood cancer will be a curable disease by 2050.

“That’s really something to work towards and we urge everyone who can to give and allow us to make this cure a reality.”

Bloodwise and the Grimsby & District Branch would like to take this opportunity to thank Duckworths Land Rover Market Rasen for sponsoring the event, Market Rasen and the racecourse for providing the venue.”