CANCER affects almost everyone at some point, whether it is a member of a family or a friend and as one in three people are expected to contract the potential killer, it is understandably a very emotive subject.

The fight against the disease is nearing an end with doctors and scientists growing ever closer to cracking the reasons why we develop cancer, but the research is costly and the NHS cannot provide all the money needed to keep the laboratories operating.

The Cancer Research Campaign has a batch of volunteer groups dotted around the country working hard to encourage their communities to hand over cash and in Stratford, the committee has just celebrated hitting its £250,000 milestone - a huge achievement when the country is suffering from charity overload.

Ann Morgan joined the Stratford Cancer Research group after she arrived in Stratford in the early 60s, anxious to do something to help in her new community.

"Friends said 'why not come along?' and with the children at school, I wanted to do something to help and so I did go along and I have been involved ever since," said Ann.

The committee has stuck to a similar fund-raising formula throughout its four-decade existence, with two or three major events per year plus street collections, but the amount of money raised has changed drastically over the years, making the £250,000 total even more of an achievement.

"Back then, we would raise £1,500 to £2,000 a year, which was a lot of money then. In street collections, we would get people giving us 50p but now we get £2 coins, the people of Stratford are very generous," she said.

Surprisingly, the most generous donators, particularly in street collections, are youngsters, although all of the committee volunteers are over 50 compared to when the committee first started and was made up of younger members of the community.

Ann said she appreciated that work pressures were high on the agenda these days, leaving people with less spare time, but said she would dearly love to have younger people jump on board. These days, she concedes, it is increasingly difficult to raise cash as there are so many good causes in the arena slugging it out for a share of the donations. Charity fatigue has been a problem for many fund-raising organisations, particularly as many national charities have been pushed to one side in favour of local causes.

"There is room for all of us, but it is important for us to ensure people understand that the money we raise for Cancer Research is local," said Ann. "Our money goes to the regional office and that goes to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for its research.

"The money stays local for local people. Plus, many people go in and have a drug or recognise the name of a treatment from our work and they realise that it was money we raised that helped to pay for that.

"It is important for people to see their money work for them so they know they can get something back."

The cash ploughed into research is paying off. The genetic code that causes cancer has almost been cracked, which will mean prevention will be on the cards rather than just cures. "I firmly believe it will happen and sooner rather than later," she said. "But more work is needed and we need to keep raising the money to make sure we reach that Holy Grail."