Bakers' tasty treats to aid fight against blood cancer

Civilian and military staff tuck into some of the cakes at HMS Sultan, Gosport

Civilian staff from Interserve in the unit personnel office (UPO) at HMS Sultan, Gosport, baked dozens of sweet treats to raise money for the charity Anthony Nolan.

Tables were heavy with cakes and raffle prizes donated by Interserve and Royal Navy personnel from across the establishment, who dug deep to show their support for the charity.

Anthony Nolan was established in 1974 to find suitable matches for people to donate healthy cells to help patients with blood cancers and, more than 40 years later, it now has 600,000 potential donors on its database.

It also works at the cutting edge of stem cell research to increase the success rate of these transplants.

UPO pay supervisor Lisa Burgess organised the cake sale.

She said: ‘Leukaemia effects not just those suffering with the condition but their family, friends and colleagues too so the charity is quite close to a lot of people’s hearts. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support that’s been shown.

‘A lot of work went into organising the cake sale and everyone from across the office has got involved and it’s really brought us all together.

‘The service we provide in the UPO is quite personal as each customer is an individual with slightly different needs.

‘I’d like to think the relationship we have with them has helped us to promote the charity fundraiser.’

The cake sale raised just under £720.