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Free weeklies move towards £2m appeal target

The Extra series of newspapers in west Scotland has thanked its army of readers for their generosity in helping to raise more than £750,000 in a massive fundraising campaign in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief.

In June 2004, the 260,000-circulation Extra series of free weeklies launched an appeal to raise £2m for a new state-of-the-art Macmillan chemotherapy centre at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow.

And earlier this month, charity officials were delighted to accept a cheque for £625,000, which has been generated towards the papers’ target following a series of successful fundraising events in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Glasgow.

Further cheques from various sources have been handed over to the charity which take the total to more than £750,000.

The Archant title asked its readers to show their support for such a worthwhile cause, and hundreds have dug deep to help make a real difference to the lives of thousands of people in Scotland living with cancer.

In recent months, everything from can-collections and charity concerts to fundraising raffles and sponsored football tournaments, have had donations pouring in.

The appeal has also been supported by supermarket giants Asda, Strathclyde Police and Hamilton Park racecourse, while one reader handed in an anonymous donation of over £2,000.

Archant Scotland managing director, Neville Keithley, said: “We have been delighted with the response from our readers who have consistently shown their kindness and enthusiasm in supporting charity ventures and campaigns supported by The Extra.

Editor of The Extra’s Lanarkshire titles, Martin Clark, echoed those views and said: “It’s been a tremendous start to the appeal, but there is still a long way to go to reach our target.”

  • Archant Scotland MD Neville Keithley, (back, second right) with (back l-r) Lanarkshire Extra editor Martin Clark, and reporters Graeme Watson and Brian Walsh. In front are Macmillan’s Scottish fundraising managers, Moira Dobbie, Angela McCormack and David Smellie alongside (second left) Ayrshire Extra editor John Matthews