TWENTY-two workmates from Nether Kellet’s Back Lane Quarry were among 240 walkers to make it safely across the sands of Morecambe Bay in this year’s Rosemere Cancer Foundation Cross Bay Walk.

The annual trek from Arnside to Kents Bank looks set to raise more than £3,000 for the charity, and was led by the new Queen’s Guide to the Sands, Michael Wilson.

Thanking the 2019 walkers, Rosemere fundraising coordinator Julie Hesmondhalgh said it was thanks to people like them that the charity had recently provided a portable ultrasound scanner for the head and neck lump clinic at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Rosemere is also funding a trial recruiting patients from Westmorland General Hospital, Kendal, and Furness General Hospital, Barrow, that could have a major impact on the national bowel screening programme.

Meanwhile, the charity has just announced it has guaranteed free access to complementary therapies for cancer patients and their carers until next March.

Rosemere has given a further £26,012 to ensure free aromatherapy and massage continue at Morecambe Bay's hospitals as well as at CancerCare's centres in Kendal, Barrow and Lancaster.

Pauline Robinson, the hospital trust’s lead cancer nurse, said: “The benefits to patients of this service include the physical benefits that aromatherapy gives, which has been well documented in research papers. Just as important are the holistic benefits such as personal wellbeing, emotional and psychological support.

“As cancer is now considered a long-term condition with focus on self-management, patients welcome the opportunity to avail themselves of such therapeutic services to aid recovery.”

The therapies are delivered CancerCare, which says 513 patients and carers benefited from the treatments in the past year.

Dan Hill, Rosemere Cancer Foundation’s chief officer, said: “We are delighted to continue to fund this service, which is obviously extremely popular with local cancer patients and their carers.

“Patients are prioritised in the first instance but we all recognise the tremendous strain a cancer diagnosis can also put on those closest to the patient. They may find themselves experiencing life as a carer for the first time, which is why we feel it is only right that complementary therapy, which has many proven benefits, extends to them too.”