A COURAGEOUS Spa family, who have been raising funds for cancer research since their six-year-old son's life was cut short, have reached their £25,000 target.

Debi and Nigel Wainwright have spent nearly two years fundraising for Alistair's Appeal, a campaign launched when their son, Alistair, died in May 2000 after a year-long fight against a brain tumour.

The couple, of Charles Dickens Close, held a Christmas appeal in a bid to hit the £25,000 target before the two-year anniversary of the youngster's death but just fell short of the target.

However a golf day held in Alistair's memory, which featured in last week's Advertiser, helped boost the funds and the grand total now stands at a proud £25,648.

The event, which was held at Droitwich Golf Club, raised an impressive £2,464 which took the family over their target by £648.

Some of the money raised has already been given to the Diana, Princess of Wales Children's Hospital, Birmingham, where Alistair was treated. The rest of the cash, £16,784, will be donated to Brain Tumour Research at Birmingham University in conjunction with the hospital.

The cash was raised during a number of fundraising events and donations made by kind-hearted family, friends and members of the public.

Debi Wainwright said: "I can't thank people enough for their generosity and help in reaching our target, we really couldn't have done it without them.

"The whole thing has been a big help in keeping our memories of Alistair alive and it has given us somewhere to put all of the caring we had for him.

"We will still carry on doing the golf days every year as an annual memorial around Alistair's birthday and we will continue to fundraise even though we have hit our target."

The couple, who have a daughter Lauren, plan to continue fundraising and are currently holding an auction, which includes a signed football shirt, on www.ebay.co.uk