Premiership clubs asked to dig deep for cancer

Steve Bennett

A team of staff from used car hypermarket Carcraft will be setting off on a marathon three-day road tour of all English Premiership football clubs this Wednesday, with the aim of collecting signed memorabilia to sell off at a grand Charity Auction for The Christie Hospital on Saturday 6 October.

The road trip is being led by the founder of the Keep Smiling Appeal for Christie’s, Steve Bennett from Firgrove in Rochdale, who is a member of the Carcraft sales team and has been undergoing treatment at the hospital.  The Appeal team has already raised over £3,000 for Christie’s through a series of fund-raising events, including a sponsored press-ups tournament in the showroom and a sponsored half marathon.

The team will be driving to all twenty Premiership clubs in just two days, accompanied by the Christie Bear mascot.  A large number of auction items have already been donated to the cause including: signed England shirts, signed Sven-Goran Eriksson merchandise, free hotel nights for two, free tickets to family days out and a range of attractions across the region, a luxury spa day, a free bungee jump, a scuba diving lesson, VIP tickets to the Funny Girls club in Blackpool and a 4x4 quad bike safari.

The Keep Smiling Charity Auction night is taking place at The Birch Hotel on Manchester Old Road in Heywood, on Saturday night from 7pm until late.  Tickets cost £10 and the event will feature a buffet, music, stand-up comedy, fantastic raffle prizes, and the charity auction itself, led by a mystery celebrity guest.  All proceeds will go to the Keep Smiling Appeal.

Mr Bennett says:  “The Keep Smiling Appeal is already a third of the way to reaching its £10,000 fund-raising target this year and the Charity Auction will be our biggest event yet.  We hope to raise at least £7,000 on the night, for a cause that is very close to my heart.”

The Christie Hospital has been chosen by staff at Carcraft as their ‘charity of the year’.  It is one of the largest cancer treatment centres in Europe, providing high quality diagnosis, treatment and care for over 3.2 million people in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire regions.  It also undertakes world class cancer research and supports a range of educational programmes. 

Anyone wishing to donate to Carcraft’s Keep Smiling Appeal for Christie’s or book tickets for the Charity Auction can do so by visiting Carcraft on Nixon Street in Castleton, or through the www.justgiving.com/benito website.  Just Giving is recognised as the leading charity fund-raising website in the UK and offers an easy way to make secure donations online.