Sport St Mary’s Donates Facilities for Macmillan Cancer Support

A former student at St Mary’s University, Twickenham has raised over £3,000 for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity, with help from Sport St Mary’s. Sally Leonard, a PGCE graduate, organised the Macmillan Charity Football Tournament on Sunday 27th April and the University donated its sporting facilities for the game. The tournament helped raise funds totalling £2,203 on the day, with more donations coming through, and Barclays Bank matched funds of £1,000 bringing the current total to £3,203. Sally organised the event with two other St Mary’s graduates to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer, an illness that affected her uncle and grandmother. She previously held a successful football tournament in 2012 and wanted to organise another event in a larger venue. The recent event had 12 teams with players from different backgrounds including students, firefighters, plumbers, teachers and accountants. Donations were given from individuals and companies for the raffle and two signed football shirts were up for auction. Sally said, “St Mary’s is renowned for its sports facilities so we contacted them and thankfully they agreed to help us and the charity.” “So many people's lives are affected by cancer that we decided to help out a different charity this year and that was Macmillan Cancer Support. Many of us whom attended the day have had family members or friends supported by Macmillan nurses in the past and know first-hand the great work they do.” “Each year we are blown away by the community spirit generated at these events and it is uplifting to see so many people, who don't know each other, come together in such a positive way. We would like to hold this as an annual event and in the future we hope to help local cancer charities. One in three people will get cancer. It is a terrible disease that many people are helpless against; this is our way of fighting against it.”