Preston-based Eric Wright Group honoured their pledge to support Rosemere Cancer Foundation’s 2020 Walk in the Dark.

The annual 11-mile night time trek had to be cancelled as a big event due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The company’s Marketing, PR and CSR Manager, Suzanne Taylor, presented Rosemere Cancer Foundation’s chief officer Dan Hill with a cheque for £1,362 while her colleague, Anne Hulley, Group HR Advisor, gave fundraiser Rebecca Arestidou a cheque for £2,500.

Read more: Fulwood school joins the Big Climate Fightback

The £3,862 total donation was to cover sponsorship for what would have been the 12th Walk in the Dark back in April, plus some match funding and money raised by an Eric Wright Group team that was set to take part.

The walk was cancelled in the spring, but would usually see participants walk between Chorley and South Ribble Hospital along the A6 to Rosemere Cancer Centre at the Royal Preston Hospital.

The walk was re-arranged for July, but restrictions meant that those who had signed up were invited to undertake a walk of their choice in their own bubble in September.

Read more: Royal Preston Hospital to be a Covid vaccine hub site

Dan said: “We are extremely grateful to Eric Wright Group for this donation. The company has been our Walk in the Dark sponsor for four years.

“Its sponsorship covers all our outgoings associated with the walk so every
penny from entry fees and sponsorship money can go directly to projects to
help improve the lives of local cancer patients.

“The walk is very popular among our supporters and is our flagship event in that it raises the most money for us out of all the things we do.

“In 2019, Walk in the Dark raised £50,000 and we were expecting a similar sum from this year’s walk but it wasn’t to be. However, we hope to be back with Walk in the Dark next summer.”

Jeremy Hartley, Managing Director of Eric Wright Group, said: “We first began supporting Rosemere Cancer Foundation eight years ago sponsoring the Blackburn Cathedral Valentine’s concert and we were delighted, once again, to be involved in Walk in the Dark in whatever way we could support despite the difficulties we all faced due to the effects of the pandemic.

“As a local company, we are well aware of Rosemere Cancer Foundation’s work to support those in treatment at Rosemere Cancer Centre and all of our region’s hospital cancer units and in recognition of this they were also nominated as one of our Charities of the Year in 2018 with a substantial £25,000 donation.”

Rosemere Cancer Foundation funds cutting edge equipment, research, training and other cancer services and therapies that the NHS is unable to afford.

Find coronavirus stats in your area below

For further information on its work, including how to make a donation, click here.

Read more: See the latest Preston news and headlines