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Glasgow ladies raise £30,000 for Action Medical Research

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Martel Maxwell

The ladies of Glasgow have helped to raise a staggering £30,000 for children’s charity Action Medical Research at its Killer Heels and Cocktails event.

TV presenter, journalist and author Martel Maxwell (pictured above with her mum, Anne Maxwell-Stevenson) hosted the glittering get-together at the Radisson Blu Hotel on Argyle Street on Friday, 4 November where the 360 guests included Miss Scotland Lucy Kerr.

The event offered the chance to share an amazing afternoon with friends while raising much-needed funds to help save and change the lives of sick and disabled children.

Entertainment was provided by The Jersey Tones and Gary Lamont and items in the auction, led by Heart DJ Paul Harper, included tickets to see Rod Stewart in concert at the SSE Hydro, decadent dining for six at Hutchesons Bar & Brasserie, and a Davis Cup GB shirt signed by Andy and Jamie Murray, donated by Judy Murray.

“This really was an afternoon to remember for our fantastic guests and it certainly proved that ladies in Glasgow want to have fun!” says Cecilia Cooper, Action Medical Research’s community fundraiser for Scotland.

“Our lunch has been in existence for more than 30 years and in the last 13 years we have raised more than £630,000 – we couldn’t have done that without our supporters who organise the event as well as attending it, so we’re hugely grateful to all of them.”

For more than 60 years Action Medical Research has helped pioneer treatments and ways to prevent disease that have benefited millions of people in the UK and across the world. Research they’ve funded has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound in pregnancy, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths.

It is currently funding research into meningitis, Down syndrome, epilepsy and premature birth, as well as some rare and distressing conditions that severely affect children.

Lucy Kerr - Miss Scotland

Lucy Kerr, who hails from Bearsden, has pledged to use her stint wearing the Miss Scotland crown to raise funds for Action Medical Research.

She hopes to raise up to £50,000 to support a study in Glasgow to develop new and improved treatments for neuroblastoma, a type of cancer which starts in the nerve cells, during her reign.

Around 100 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma each year in the UK1,2. Most are young – less than five years old3,4 – and although treatment often proves life-saving, it has side effects and doesn’t always work. Sadly around a third of children lose their lives within five years of being diagnosed with neuroblastoma4.

Professor Robert Mairs, of the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cancer Sciences, is developing a new combination treatment in the hope of reducing the suffering that is associated with side effects and saving more children’s lives.

Last month Lucy visited Professor Mairs at the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre to see for herself the work being funded by Action Medical Research.

“I have chosen to support this charity because cancer has affected members in my family and is very close to my heart. To see anyone suffer is truly heartbreaking and I feel that it is so important that we fund research like Professor Mairs' as children have so much more life to live,” she adds.

For more information on Action Medical Research, please visit action.org.uk

- ENDS -

References:

  1. NHS Choices. Neuroblastoma. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/neuroblastoma/Pages/Introduction.aspx Website accessed 25 June 2014.
  2. The Neuroblastoma Society. Home page. http://neuroblastoma.org.uk/ Website accessed 25 June 2014.
  3. The Neuroblastoma Society. Neuroblastoma FAQs. http://neuroblastoma.org.uk/families/neuroblastoma-faqs/ Website accessed 30 June 2014.
  4. Cancer Research UK. Childhood cancer survival statistics. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/childhoodcancer/... Website accessed 16 September 2014.

 

For high-res images of the Killer Heels and Cocktails event, please click on the links below (CREDIT ADAM COCHRANE):

Lucy Kerr - https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/lucy_kerr_-_killer_heels_glasgow.jpg

https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/lucy_kerr_-_killer_heels_glasgow_2.jpg

Martel Maxwell with her mum, Anne Maxwell-Stevenson - https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/martel_maxwell_-_killer_heels_glasgow.jpg

Paul Harper kicking off the auction - https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/paul_harper_-_killer_heels_glasgow.jpg

Gary Lamont entertains the audience - https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/gary_lamont_-_killer_heels_glasgow.jpg

The Jersey Tones - https://www.action.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/press/the_jersey_tones_-_killer_heels_glasgow.jpg

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For more information on Action Medical Research, please contact Ellie Evans, Fundraising Communications Officer, on:

T 01403 327480

E eevans@action.org.uk

W action.org.uk

Follow us on Twitter at @actionmedres and @amr_events  
Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/actionmedres
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Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. For more than 60 years we’ve helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of people. Our research has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths. But we urgently need to develop more new treatments and cures for sick babies and children and we can’t do it without you.

Join our fight for little lives today.

Charity reg. nos 208701 and SC039284.

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