School’s fundraising efforts help research into cancer

Emma Hesketh visited Belmont Grosvenor School, near Harrogate, yesterday to thank parents and staff for raising thousands of pounds to fund the medical research. A charity ball held this summer at the school at Swarcliffe Hall at Birstwith raised a total of £17,300. The money has been divided between the Parent and Teacher Association and Yorkshire Cancer Research.

It will fund Miss Hesketh’s three-year PhD course at York University – she is one of five young science students in the region to benefit from Yorkshire Cancer Research’s PhD Studentship scheme in this academic year.

She said: “Many people suffer from cancer and I really wanted to make a difference. The research we are already doing is so interesting and we are so close to making breakthroughs – I really wanted to get more involved and help push it that little bit further.”

During her visit, Miss Hesketh spoke to pupils about her research, which will look at the way genes are copied before cells divide to produce new cells. It will help develop treatments to block the process from happening in cancer cells.