A group of fundraising JCB ladies and their friends had an extra spring in their step at last night's Race for Life as they celebrated a fund raising milestone.
In 2009 - one year after undergoing her first mastectomy - JCB PA Sue Redding mobilised three colleagues to take part in the five kilometre race in aid of Cancer Research UK at Trentham Gardens and they raised £2,587. Six years on and Sue’s army of fundraisers is still going into battle against the disease – and last night (Tuesday, June 9th) they marched through an impressive fundraising total of £55,000.
Sue, 59, of Stafford, and her team strode out at Trentham dressed as sheep. They called themselves the ‘Hydraulic Rams’, the term for a steel component on a JCB digger which acts as the muscle of the machine and which operates under hydraulic pressure allowing it to lift, load and dig.
Sue, who had a second mastectomy in 2012, said: “What started out as team of four of us raising money for Cancer Research UK in 2009 has grown into an annual event which now attracts dozens of supporters from JCB. We never set out to raise a specific amount of money and I was amazed when I sat down and added up just exactly what all the ladies have raised over the past six years. Cancer is an illness that touches everyone’s lives and we need to do everything we can to eradicate this terrible disease. We are doing our best to make a contribution but also having fun along the way.”