Health charity champion Ada Haywood has raised over £40,000 in her latest effort to support research to combat cancer and heart disease.

Representatives from 50 businesses, together with partners and friends joined Ada at her 2024 Pink Tie Ball, held at the Double Tree by Hilton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Ada, from Clayton, has raised almost £1.5 million for Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation over the past 20-years.

Her annual Pink Tie Ball, held each September, sells out within days of tickets being released, with almost half of tables for 2024 already sold.

Ada, aged 71, started her fundraising after a neighbour’s wife died from breast cancer at the age of 35.

She said: “I get tremendous support from the local business community at my Pink Tie Ball and events such as our annual VE Day pie and pea supper, and I couldn’t stage these events without the amazing support of Rebecca Miller of Stepping Stones Education and Training.

“One in two people will get cancer in their lifetime and it’s so important to support the scientists in their search for a cure.

“Around five years ago, I decided to also support the British Heart Foundation as around 460 people die in the UK each day from heart and circulatory diseases.

Ada’s amazing fundraising efforts were recognised in 2018 with the award of a British Empire Medal and the former Steelite pottery worker even has a room named after her at the headquarters of Cancer Research UK.

Despite retiring from work, Ada gets up at around 5.30am twice a week to attend BNI breakfast networking meetings with local businesspeople. She added: “The fundraising is vital, and the generosity of local business owners drives my efforts forward. But it isn’t just about the money, I use my time at business networking meetings to raise awareness about getting check-ups and preventative measures, such as using Factor 50 sunscreen.”

ENDS

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Photo credit: E.L. Norman.