Mansfield firefighters’ calendar raises £5000 for breast cancer charity

A charity calendar which stars crews at Mansfield fire station has sold all 500 copies, raising funds for a local breast cancer support group.

In total the crews raised £5600, with £5,000 going to the Amazon Breast Cancer Support group at King’s Mill Hospital and the remaining £600 going to The Fire Fighters Charity.

The efforts come after their colleague, district performance officer Louise Brownley, had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Her colleagues chose to raise funds for the local support group after a suggestion from one of the crew members.

All 500 calenders had been successfully been sold by the end of December and were all produced for free by Mansfield based printers Linney.

Martin Bills, manager of Mansfield fire station, said: “We were made aware of the charity by one of our colleagues.

“We then quickly rushed to have it done by the end of the year, and managed to get it done in three weeks.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was a fantastic effort from everyone at the station and we’re proud to have sold all the copies.”

The fire crew plan to release another calender at the end of the year, with the hopes of making it an annual charity drive.

Chair of the Amazon Breast Cancer Support Group, Beryl Perrin, said: “We are overwhelmed, people were so giving. We’re absolutely thrilled.

“It means everything to us as this will go directly to helping local patients.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who donated and everyone at the fire station.”

The Amazon Breast Cancer Support Group intend to use the donation to help fund a Tomosynthesis breast cancer scanner for Kings Mill hospital.

Louise spoke on the efforts of her colleges.

She said: “I feel quite emotional.

“They have done this off their own backs and it means quite a lot.”

Unfortunately Louise received the news that the cancer had spread to her bones.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However Louise stated that she “won’t let it define who I am”.

Louise has since started a blog which documents the efforts of 14 local emergency service personal, including Notts Fire Service Cheif Mr Buckley, cycling 140 miles in two days.