A charity supporting people in East Staffordshire battling cancer and their families has benefited from nearly £30,000 from a vitamin and health supplement company.

Zipvit has now donated £29,991 to Macmillan Cancer Support, bringing their total donations handed over to Macmillan to an £173,711, with more to come.

Managers from Zipvit have now visited the active referral team to gain an insight into how the money is helping the charity in its work. The money has been raised through Zipvit’s customers getting behind their charity push.

George Gaye, Macmillan wellbeing officer, said: "Cancer and its treatments can cause physical changes, and dealing with these is often stressful. Active Living and Macmillan have come together to help people living with or who have had cancer to make a positive change to their life. We support them in finding a safe and effective way of becoming more active by tailoring activity to the individual’s needs, interests and abilities."

Eileen Hunt, who was referred to the programme by her GP, said: "Considering I, as an older lady, had never been in a gym before, the instructors and Macmillan helped me regain my health more quickly, gain confidence and make new friends for which I will always be grateful."

General manager Sarah Dinshaw and brand manager Ben Mackay of Zipvit, which is based in Rugeley, met with charity representatives at the leisure centre where they learned about the ways Macmillan has provided funding.

Sarah Dinshaw and Ben Mackay from Zipvit present the cheque to Pauline Lewis, Macmillan Cancer Support, with the active referral team and Eileen Hunt and Norman Adamson, cancer patients referred to the programme.

Ms Dinshaw said: "We are very proud to be Macmillan’s highest corporate fund-raiser in Staffordshire and really enjoyed meeting the Macmillan Cancer Support team. On this occasion, we also met Eileen and Norman who have benefited from their amazing work in the Get Active Feel Good program, which supports people affected by cancer to become more active. It’s great to see our fund-raising in action and we look forward to hitting £200,000 very soon."

Pauline Lewis, fund-raising manager for Macmillan Cancer Support, said "With 14 people in Staffordshire being diagnosed with cancer every day, Zipvit’s support is needed more than ever.

"The money they have donated over the past eight years has had a massive impact on the vital cancer services we are able to provide. We are extremely grateful to Zipvit and their very generous customers for continuing to support us in 2017.

Sarah Dinshaw and Ben Mackay from Zipvit present the cheque to Pauline Lewis, of Macmillan, with the Active Referral team and Eileen Hunt and Norman Adamson.

"This shows Macmillan is obviously very close to the hearts of everyone who buys their products and we can’t thank them enough."