Summer 2026 Newsletter

RAISED UP TO DATE £1,250 000!

Yes! We did it… Another milestone to our fundraising…
Thank you all so much for helping us to reach this huge figure. Just think about all the research
which has been done thanks to you all!

THANK YOU!

I am afraid I must start this newsletter with some very sad news. Dave Dyer who was our
Secretary in the nineties sadly passed away on 11th July. He organised the Junior Fun Run
which took place at Parkside and his enthusiasm was so contagious. We will miss him a lot.
These past few months have been very busy especially with the Fun Run which once again
was a huge success. Although, we had fewer runners, we raised £6000 more than last year
(£17,792 in total.) A huge thank you to everyone who took part and helped on the day and
also to our sponsors. A particular mention to Anne, our Treasurer, whose hard work for this
event should not be underestimated.

I am so delighted to see some leukaemia patients who had only been diagnosed a year ago
taking part in the event. This is heartwarming and shows the research is making such huge
progress especially with improved drugs.

We are now ready for next year’s and you can register now. Should you wish to sponsor the
event, you may contact me already. Only £100 is required from each sponsor.
Our Secretary’s son, Jean-Marc Knoll did very well in raising over £2380 for us by running in
the London Marathon.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped at the Elizabethan Market, the Rugby club tombola,
the collection and to all the committee members who are working so hard to raise such a huge
amount of money.

Remember, if you ever considered joining us, we would be delighted to welcome you. We only
have about 5 meetings a year on Zoom.

MORRISON’S COLLECTION 19TH SEPTEMBER

We will be using buckets rather than tins and now have access to a card reader as we are
aware that not everyone carries cash anymore and it may be easier to get a donation. If you
are free anytime on that day, please contact Nicole,

TESCO’S COLLECTION SUNDAY 11th OCTOBER

If you are free anytime on that day, please contact Nicole,

QUIZ NIGHT FRIDAY 16th OCTOBER

This will take place at the Avoncroft Arts Centre at 7.30pm. Teams of 4 at £28 per team. Bring
your own drinks and refreshments. Steve, our quizmaster, and his family will be present again.
Contact Nicole on nicnoelharris@aol.com

CURRY EVENING FRIDAY 20th NOVEMBER

We will be having another Curry Night at Dine India in Catshill at 7.30pm. The cost of the meal
is £25 per person and includes 3 starters and 3 mains, with rice and naan bread as well as a
dessert. Dayl will be organising a fantastic raffle for the evening. Contact Nicole on
nicnoelharris@aol.com

GREETINGS CARDS

Judy Hurst is selling some greetings cards at Avoncroft Museum, sending us the profit she
makes from her sale. She is doing an amazing job. If interested, you can buy them at the shop.

TOMBOLA ITEMS

We have used up 400 tombola prizes and will need to replenish our stock for the Fun Run
next year. A lot of those unwanted presents you may have, raise a great deal of money for
our branch. Now that the children are on holiday and whilst doing some clearing out, you may
find something which would be of use to us. We also would appreciate some raffle prizes.

BOTTLES WANTED

We always need some bottles for our raffle prizes. It doesn’t have to be alcoholic; we can raise
money from anything you give us.

2027 BROMSGROVE FUN RUN

You may now register on https://www.riderhq.com/events/p/yxrih45r/enter2

RESEARCH NEWS

Understanding the role of genes in how ALL develops in children
Dr Russell and her team want to understand more about the role genes play in how ALL
develops and find drugs that could specifically target ALL cancer cells.

The challenge

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer that affects the blood and bone
marrow (the spongey material inside our bones).
Children with ALL produce too many white blood cells called lymphoblasts, which crowd out
normal blood cells. This leads to symptoms such as fatigue, frequent infections and easy
bruising or bleeding.

All of the cells inside our bodies contain genes, which are like tiny instruction manuals telling
the cells how they should grow, develop and function. Genes need instructions to know when
to turn on and when to turn off, and this is carefully controlled.

When carefully controlled, cells stay nice and healthy and behave as they should, but
sometimes things can go wrong. Genes can be turned on or off when they shouldn’t be,
meaning they don’t behave as they should.

It’s this process that causes a healthy cell to turn cancerous

The project

In this project, Dr Russell and her team want to understand more about how ALL develops by
looking at specific genes known to be involved in the development of the disease. They think
the way these genes behave is incorrect, which causes a cascade of events that leads to
cancer cells developing and growing. Dr Russell wants to understand the exact steps that
causes this “domino effect” and test different drugs to see whether they can stop this from
happening.

The future

The hope is that one of these drugs could specifically target the cancer cells, slowing down
their growth or destroying them altogether. This could mean a future where we have more
targeted drug treatments with fewer side-effects, improving the lives of children affected by
this type of blood cancer.