WELL over £300,000 has been raised for the Yorkshire Coast, Ryedale and Wolds Macmillan Nurse Appeal.

Launched just 18 months ago, the campaign aimed to raise £250,000 for two more Macmillan nurses for the area and organisers are stunned that the target figure has been raised and exceeded so quickly.

Appeal chairman Ashley Burgess said he was delighted they had reached the target.

"Macmillan nurses are in the forefront of treatment for cancer but like most things in our society, in order to function properly, Macmillan as an organisation needs funding and this has to come from charitable giving. Our community has rallied to this cause by an amazing and rapid response to our appeal for funds."

Mr Burgess said of the two new nurses, one is working as a hospital support nurse and the other divides her time between chemotherapy and haematology, bringing the number of Macmillan nurses in the area to eight.

"Ryedale is the heart of the appeal area but we know the people living in it are generous and always do their best to rally to a cause such as we have been promoting," said Mr Burgess.

"I would like to thank people from every sector of our community for playing their part in raising this huge amount of money in such a short space of time."

Throughout Ryedale, groups and individuals set out to raise money when the campaign was launched in June 2000.

Village walks, auctions, charity wine tasting, sporting events, raffles, collections and coffee mornings are just a few of the imaginative ways local people raised money for the appeal.

Ryedale District Councillor David Cussons helped raise £4,500 for the appeal when he nominated it as one of the charities he wanted to raise funds for during his year as council chairman.

His main fund-raising event was an auction of promises where people bid for all kinds of things including people to do chores, holidays and days out shooting.

Coun Cussons explained why he chose the Macmillan appeal as one of his charities.

"It was all to do with cancer really," said Coun Cussons.

"I lost my brother through it some years ago. There weren't any Macmillan nurses about then, a lot of it was left to my parents.

"Now the Macmillan nurses are doing such a marvellous job, it is a great thing, so that is why I supported the cause."

The Boyes family, at Low Farm in Ellerburn, raised some £2,000 for the appeal in August 2000 through a bottle derby.

Dennis Boyes said he chose the charity because his late granddaughter, Becki Atkinson, had a long interest in nursing.

"She went to Scarborough Hospital on a work placement and she loved it," said Mr Boyes.

The family held the derby in August last year. Entrants paid 50p to put their name in a lemonade bottle and then the bottles were all floated down the beck and the first one to cross the finish line won. This was accompanied by a day of events including a raffle.

Tragically, Becki was killed in a car accident just two months later, in October.

Pickering resident John Pearson has also worked hard to raise money.

Throughout the last 18 months, he has organised a number of musical and entertainment evenings to raise cash. He said he hosted concerts by the Orpheus Singers.

As well as this, he said: "Occasionally I've gone to meetings and done some entertaining myself and they have given me a cheque."

Mr Pearson donated this money to the appeal, amounting to nearly £1000.

"I think this is a very worthwhile cause," said Mr Pearson. "I saw they had exceeded their target, and I'm delighted about that. If you can do your bit in this fraught world, all the better."

To celebrate the success of the campaign, a masked ball was held at the Royal Hotel in Scarborough last weekend. Fund-raising manager for the area Sue Megginson said: "We have had such generous support in the last 18 months.

"Although this particular appeal is now over, the need for Macmillan services never ends and I hope we can rely on local people to continue raising money to support the work of Macmillan Cancer Relief in this region."

Updated: 09:43 Thursday, November 15, 2001