A GROUP of Birkenhead store workers have thanked their local community for support in raising more than £20,000 for a cancer charity.

Workers from Wickes’ Birkenhead branch had spent the last four years organising events to help raise vital funds for the blood cancer charity, Bloodwise.

In total the team raised an incredible £26,098, with this year marking a ten-year national partnership between the charity and DIY retailer, which began in 2006 and has raised nearly £5million in total to improve the lives of patients with the third biggest cancer killer.

Birkenhead Wickes Store Manager, Kevin Rimmer, who has previously ran the London Marathon and kayaked the English Channel in support of the charity, said: “The partnership with Bloodwise has meant a great deal to everyone who has been involved over the years, and we are very proud of what we’ve achieved.

“People care so much and it has really brought everyone together to work towards one common goal, whilst having loads of fun.

“The support the charity has given to enable us to reach that total has been exceptional, and has had such an impact on the success of our team.

“Personally, I have done more in the past five years with challenging myself in my life than I have in the previous 30, and I thank Bloodwise for giving me many of these opportunities.”

The Birkenhead team regularly held various events to boost their fundraising total - most recently “Hop up Kilimanjaro” whereby colleagues racked up 38,000 steps in-store on a ‘Hop-up’ to represent the 38,000 people diagnosed with blood cancer each year.

Bloodwise – formerly Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research – became Wickes’s first-ever national charity partner in 2006, initially for an 18-month period but the collaboration went from strength-to-strength.

Cathy Gilman, Chief Executive of Bloodwise, says: “We were delighted when we were first chosen, but back then we couldn’t have imagined that we would be celebrating such an extraordinary partnership a decade later.

“Birkenhead Wickes colleagues have achieved something life-changing for blood cancer patients of all ages, and the money that has been raised will help us to save more lives than ever before, for many years to come.

“We wish the team every success for the business and fundraising going forward.” To find out more about fundraising and volunteering for Bloodwise locally, please visit www.bloodwise.org.uk/inyourarea