SOLICITORS in Chester are teaming up with a leading cancer research charity to give local people the chance to make or update a will free of charge.
Fifteen solicitors are now offering Cancer Research UK’s Free Will Service to people aged 55 and above in the Chester area
There is no obligation to leave a gift to the charity when using the service, but many of the 415 people who have already taken advantage of the unique scheme have chosen to do so and as a result are helping the charity in its bid to beat cancer.
Paul Farthing, director of high value relationships at Cancer Research UK, said: “Legacies, or gifts left in wills, are extremely important to the charity sector, which received about £1.5bn in this way in 2005.
“At Cancer Research UK more than a third of the charity’s research is funded by legacies.
“In fact, last year alone, our Free Will Service generated more than £2.5m, with more than £30m pledged in more than 5,000 wills. Nearly £1.5m of that was pledged by the people of Chester.”
One in three people in the UK will develop cancer at some stage in their lives, with about 3,000 people diagnosed in Chester every year.
But the good news is that more people are surviving the disease thanks to earlier detection, more effective diagnosis and improved treatments made possible by ongoing research into cancer.
Mr Farthing added: “Legacies really do make a huge difference to funding our research.
“For this reason, we hope the people of Chester will continue to think about leaving a gift to a charity when writing their will.”
More than 78 local Cancer Research UK supporters attended an evening reception at The Queen Hotel in Chester yesterday (tues jun24) to find out more about legacies and how they fund research both locally and nationally.
Supporters were joined by Dr Mark Boyd, a leading researcher within the Division of Surgery and Oncology at the University of Liverpool, who spoke about his work to investigating a number of common cancers including prostate, bladder and kidney cancers.
Anyone interested in finding out more about Cancer Research UK’s Free Will Service, can telephone 020 7121 6697 or email: fws.administration@cancer.org.uk.