WITNEY was in the pink on Saturday, when a dedicated band of women held their annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month fundraiser.

The sixth Witney in the Pink Day was an enormous success - with £5,000 raised for the Oxfordshire charity Against Breast Cancer by the Witney Fundraising Team.

The town was a sea of pink balloons and pink shop window displays in what has become a very popular community event, as well as a hugely successful fundraiser.

As a band of volunteers shook tins, shoppers were entertained by Hazazz belly dancers, Mason's Apron clog dancers, soprano Elizabeth Cameron and Witney Town Band. Even Witney police officers got into the spirit of the occasion by wearing bright pink ties.

The event was opened by the Mayor of Witney Chrissie Curry, resplendent in a pink wig, who arrived in a bright lipstick pink convertible Mini driven by Karen Gibson, before cutting a pink ribbon stretched across the High Street. She then toured the town to judge the shop window display competition and the winner was Vente Tsunami hair salon, with Top Bags second, Mellers Art Café third and Reids hair salon highly commended.

A Big Pink Balloon race, with prizes donated by The Good Deal Directory, Lloyds-TSB Bank in Witney, and the North Oxford Mini garage at Long Hanborough, was a huge success, as was the sale of helium-filled balloons to youngsters. Stalls selling pink accessories, cakes, jewellery and bric-a-brac also did a good trade. T-shirts from the Perfectly Pink Company were snapped up, and shops and businesses in Witney supported the cause with their own fundraising events too.

The occasion was covered by an ITV news team, and featured on the evening news programme.

John Richards, who runs the Screen at the Square cinema in Witney, filmed the run-up to Pink Day, including the nine-strong ABC Witney team inflating hundreds of balloons and running around the town putting them up at 7.30am on Saturday morning. He also recorded at the factory of the Witney company Wesley-Barrell Ltd, where they were making a pink sofa which is being auctioned in aid of ABC during October. He will be showing the film at the cinema.

"It was another fantastic Pink Day, and I am so grateful to the Witney team, our willing volunteers, and the people of Witney for supporting us," said Jeanne Chattoe, chairman of ABC Witney.

"There was a great atmosphere in town, and it was lots of fun. People said so many kind things - it makes all our hard work so worthwhile."

"Donations came from everyone, young and old. One young contributor was Amy Beecham, from Witney, who saved up her pocket money and donated £26 to ABC, which was so touching. It's this kind of thing, that makes us all work so hard to organise and run Witney in the Pink Day."

More money is expected to come in throughout the month from collection tins and individual events.

Against Breast Cancer funds pioneering research into the effect diet and lifestyle have on survival from breast cancer via a national study involving 1,000 women

Source: Witney Gazette