A screening scheme which encourages men to get their prostates checked has benefited from more than £5,500 after a council's departing chairman got on his bike to spread the word.
Councillor Pat Murray raised £11,452.67 during his year in office as chairman of South Derbyshire District Council; the money has been split between Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Charitable Funds – Prostate Fund and the national charity Prostate Cancer UK.
This was more than double the £5,000 target he had set himself.
Football fan Councillor Murray decided that he not only wanted to raise money for the cause but also wanted to raise awareness of the disease. Part of his fund-raising efforts saw him cycle around every village in South Derbyshire on every Saturday morning for a month, while nursing a bad knee.
He completed ten 10k cycle rides, distributing information along the way with support from staff at the district council's Civic Offices and from Green Bank Leisure Centre as well as from companies and organisations throughout the district who also provided sponsorship, refreshment stops and plenty of moral support.
Councillor Murray said the cycle rides, which went to locations including Etwall, Hatton, Overseal, Aston-on-Trent and surrounding villages, were very successful in boosting the funds.
The rides ended in Swadlincote with a grand finale when there was music laid on and stalls decorated with balloons manned by people helping to raise awareness of prostate cancer.
Councillor Murray said: “It was a tremendous effort from everyone. I support Burton Albion Football Club and Prostate Cancer UK has been the football league's chosen charity for the last two years. As chairman of the council I got to nominate a charity for the year and I nominated prostate cancer.
“If men get colds they think they are dying and the ladies have to run after us and make sure we are tended to. Anything below the belt we immediately ignore it because that is what men are like.
"This is about getting them to get tested and raise awareness. The bike ride was very painful because of my knee but I was determined to do it.
“I am overwhelmed by the amount raised and by the incredible support and assistance I received from so many people to make that possible.
“Active Nation allowed me free use of their facilities at Green Bank for my cycling training, while Lloyd’s Cycles in Swadlincote loaned me a bike to complete the rides. To learn that the money raised could make a difference to lives is absolutely wonderful.”
One of the biggest fund-raisers of the year was the charity gala ball, hosted by Burton Albion Football Club at the Pirelli Stadium. The event raised £5,505 in one night, leaving Councillor Murray almost speechless.
Jyoti Shah, a consultant urological surgeon at Burton's Queen's Hospital who has been leading the initiative from Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, gave an emotive speech on why the prostate cancer screening program is pivotal to raising awareness of the most common cancer among men.
Other events organised to help boost the total were a St Patrick’s Day Ceilidh at Woodville Box Club and a Last Night of the Proms event at Rosliston Forestry Centre.
Chris Maddox, community partnerships and charities manager for Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This amount of money could make a huge difference to men within our local community, with the potential of saving many lives.”
Miss Shah said: “Statistically one in eight men will get prostate cancer. Thanks to Councillor Pat Murray, we can continue to screen the local population of men over 50. So far we have seen more than 360 men of which 24, so far, were found to have cancer.
"We have recently seen 57 men at the hospital at a staff, friends and family screening event, and our next sessions are to be held with the Burton Caribbean Association, where the incidence of prostate cancer is significantly higher.”
Although his civic year is over, Councillor Murray said he is continuing to raise funds for the hospital with the intention of holding a prostate cancer testing session in South Derbyshire.
