The Derby Evening Telegraph has smashed its ‘magic million’ pound fundraising target for cancer equipment in Derby hospitals.

For the past two years the newspaper has been spearheading the effort with the biggest campaign in its history, and to mark its success it published a special edition looking at how the cash will be spent and how readers pulled together to raise the much-needed cash.

As well as dedicating the first seven pages of paper to the triumph, it also ran thank you messages at the foot of every page, with more details about how the money was raised.

And the biggest firework Derby has ever seen was also set off, showering a million stars over the city, as a thank-you to Telegraph readers.

Editor Mike Norton said: “Magic Million was the biggest campaign in the paper’s history and it’s thanks to the thousands of readers that we’ve hit the £1m target in two years.

“The generosity of our readers never fails to amaze me, but to raise £1m to buy cancer equipment is a truly remarkable feat.”

Born out of the Magic Appeal, launched in July 1996 by Derby fund-raiser Bernard le Blond – who died of prostate cancer the following year – the Magic Million Appeal was adopted by the Telegraph in October 2002.

As well as reporting on its progress staff also got involved in the fundraising, with many of them volunteering to get soaked in the stocks at Derby Market Place, and reporter Karen Holt scaling Kilimanjaro.