Calendar Girls give their stamp of approval to cancer work excellence

Among them was Angela Baker, one of the original Women's Institute Calendar Girls whose charity fund-raising was made into a movie.

She is also a fund-raiser for the charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, which has 7.5m currently invested in 11 research projects at Leeds University and York University. Mrs Baker lost her husband John to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1998.

As a plaque was unveiled yesterday for the Yorkshire Centre of Excellence at the new oncology wing at St James's University Hospital in Leeds she said: "A decade on from his death, the diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma has improved significantly – even in this short time."

The Yorkshire Centre of Excellence has been recognised for its work on understanding the causes of blood cancers and improving diagnosis, but also for its groundbreaking research.

Dr David Grant, scientific director of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, said: "Leeds and York have an outstanding record of research and our scientists at these institutions have made a huge contribution to improving diagnosis and treatment for blood cancers in recent years."