A LADIES evening held at North Tawton Rugby Club on Saturday, April 13, with a Michael Bublé tribute and dinner provided by Mike Welsh Catering, raised an amazing £1,000 for the FORCE Cancer Charity.

Held at the clubhouse, the evening included an huge draw and an auction in memory of life member Helen Solomon who died in November, 2017.

The cheque was presented to Olly Watts, FORCE Cancer Charity fund-raising development officer by Helen’s daughter, Becci Arscott, before the start of the League celebration lunch with former players after which the club development plan was explained, an auction and then the two matches.

Thanking everyone involved in raising the £1,000, Olly said FORCE had outreach programmes, one being at Okehampton, taking the services there once-a-week supporting everyone affected by cancer, not only the patients but their families as well.

People could get to know more about their diagnosis, nurses who can talk with them about it and where people could receive complementary therapy such as massage which can help relieve pain.

"We do a lot with children because quite often parents can find it difficult to talk to them. The children also have a chance to release their fears and feelings," said Olly.

He explained that although FORCE was part of the NHS, it did not receive any funding nor Government money at all and so relied on the wonderful people who did the fundraising for the £1.7 million that is needed every year to fund the FORCE services.