Hotel raises £3k for cancer research
Pillow Talk for Prostate Appeal
A Bristol Hotel’s scheme to encourage its guests to support a Bristol based cancer charity has produced nearly £3,000 worth of donations.
The Marriott Royal Hotel on College Green is inviting people staying with them to add a discretionary £1 to their bills. The money goes to help raise funds for Run for the Future, an annual event organised by Bristol Rotarians in aid of the Bristol Urological Institute’s Prostate Cancer Appeal.
A leaflet explaining the scheme is left on the pillows in each bedroom at the hotel.
Run for the Future, which is sponsored by Spire Hospital and James Tudor, is a 5km fun run which is now in its fourth year. So far the event has raised more than £130,000 which is being used to fund a joint research project between the BUI at Southmead Hospital and the University of the West of England into early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
More than 35,000 men in the UK are afflicted by the disease every year and more than 10,000 of them die.
The Marriott Royal has long standing links with Rotary – the hotel was the venue where Bristol Rotary Club first met over 90 years ago and there is a plaque on the wall commemorating the event. The Hotel has adopted Run for the Future as its charity for 2009.
Lisa Hale, Senior Sales Manager at the Marriott, says they’ve been delighted by the response from guests. “We always try to support a local charity and Run for the Future is doing a tremendous job in raising awareness of prostate cancer. We hope to have more than doubled the amount raised so far by the end of the year.”
Celebrity Carol Vorderman, who launched this year’s event, says it’s an opportunity for women to support the men in their lives.
“Only one man in 12 in the UK has the PSA blood test, which can be an early indicator of the disease, despite the fact that early detection greatly improves the chances of successful treatment,” she said
“If we can get more people talking about prostate cancer and persuade men to have regular check ups, we could quite literally save thousands of lives.”
This year’s Run for the Future takes place in the Downs in Bristol on Sunday 20 September. For further information, visit www.runforthefuture.org or ring the Run for the Future Office on 0117 959 6328.
