Thornton Cleveleys woman wants to give back to Macmillan with a Mo-Town night after cost-of-living grant given to her throughout cancer diagnosis

Anne Scully, 63 from Thornton Cleveleys, wants to give back to the charity Macmillan after they granted her money to help with her bills throughout a cancer diagnosis.

Previously a well-known carer in the community and part of the Mo-town scene, Anne is using all of her contacts and connections to put together a Mo-town night to raise money for the charity. Everyone from the local community is happy to help support Anne on her quest for cash as she said: “All the local businesses have donated raffle prizes, and they are all big prizes. I just want to raise as much as I can to give back.”

“Everyone has been so supportive, even small things like going to the post office to buy the raffle tickets and they said ‘oh no we’ll donate them’”

Anne found out she had a rare type of cancer by an off-chance her doctor put her forward as a ‘guinea pig’ for a lung scan as testing trials were taking place. It was there that the doctors picked up her breast cancer, Anne said: “Without the scan, I would never have known, my consultant told me. But when they operated on this tumour, they picked up a second tumour that was behind the first one. That saved my life.”

Not only caring in her fundraising, Anne is a community carer, a job she has done for 23-years. In 2018 and 2019 she was awarded ‘Carer of the Year’ for Blackpool showing her dedication to helping those in need. Anne believes this has been repaid by the amount of support she’d received throughout the last year, she said: “I can’t believe the generosity!”

Louise Osgood, a fundraising manager at Macmillan, said: “She is just an absolute trooper. Bringing the community together, there’s not many shops where the poster isn’t up!

“There’s a real feel of well-being and goodness within the community as well what she's driving. By just simply being a great character, no one can do enough to get involved. She plays such a big part in the community, and people are giving back to her because she’s given the help”

The fundraiser is aimed to put back the money granted by Macmillan in efforts to support those suffering from a diagnosis throughout the cost-of-living crisis. Macmillan Grants are a one-off payment of £350 to help with the extra costs that living with cancer can bring.

They can be used to help with things like energy bills, home adaptions, the cost of travel to and from the hospital, and any extra costs you might have because of cancer. The money raised at Anne’s fundraiser will go towards providing more people in need with this money.

The Mo-town fundraiser will feature favourites from the music scene who are all performing for free on the night of Friday 23 September. From 7:30pm people who want to help can join Anne at The Ashley Club on Victoria road where there will be a £5.00 fee on the door.