RAF rasise money for cancer charity
Personnel at RAF Benson have raised over £1000 for Breast Cancer Care at a recent ‘In the Pink’ day. The event, organised by Corporal Janice Mennie, from the Station Medical Centre encouraged personnel to wear civilian clothes (preferably pink!) instead of uniform for a small donation.
At 7 o’clock on an extremely cold and frosty Friday morning, Corporal Janice Mennie, Sergeant Loz Oliver, Sergeant Laura Gardner, Sergeant Leah Prain, Corporal Shell Watt, Senior Aircraftman Gemma Tunstead, Senior Aircraftman Steff Irvine and Senior Aircraftman Kelly MacLaughlin gathered together ready to brave the gates of RAF Benson wearing a splendid array of Pink coloured clothes to raise money for Breast Cancer Care.
The group collected money on the gates for just over an hour, raising £745 and selling over 200 pin badges at the same time. The Station Warrant Officer played an important part in the event, turning up in his pink shirt and shouting abuse at those who rode by (you know who you are!) and held the fort whilst the ‘Pink Ladies’ had their photos taken.
With numb fingers and toes, the girls returned to their places of duty to have warm tea and defrost slowly. Senior Aircraftman Gemma Tunstead and Corporal Janice Mennie then visited various sections across the Station, including the Eagles Bar and Families Club later in the day, to catch those that had escaped donating on the gate. Ossy’s kebab van also kindly donated £15 and The Old School Nursery also collected over £47 towards the effort.
This was the second year that Corporal Mennie organised the fund raising event and commented, “I decided to do this as my grandmother had breast cancer 3 years ago; she had a mastectomy and was successfully treated. Most people are affected by this, be it themselves, a member of their family, or a friend. I would like to thank all those that helped out and to all those that donated to this very worthwhile cause.”