NETBALL fans Reginald and Doreen Willcocks celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary by handing over more than £1,500 to the Great Western Hospital’s radiotherapy appeal.

The £1,525 was raised by Pinehurst Netball Club, founded by Doreen and Reginald in 1980. Doreen remains the club’s president.

They raised the money through a number of different events during the year, including a junior tournament, club nights, and selling plants from the Willcocks’ garden.

Brighter Futures, the charitable arm of the GWH NHS Foundation Trust, is fundraising to build a dedicated radiotherapy unit to reduce patients’ journeys to Oxford and Bath to receive essential cancer treatment.

Last year Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust lodged an application to build a new unit at Swindon, and proposed to invest £14.7m in the scheme, leaving Brighter Futures to raise the remaining £2.5m.

Doreen, 86, of Rowan Road, said: “We have been raising money for the radiotherapy unit at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford since we founded the club in 1980.

“It’s because I lost both my mother and my brother to lung cancer at a very young age.

“When we heard that Brighter Futures were fundraising to bring a unit to Swindon we thought we would start fundraising for them.”

Over the years the club has raised £104,000 for radiotherapy causes, something which contributed to Doreen receiving an MBE.

She said: “They really do such fantastic work it was just something we really wanted to support.

“Much of the money we raised came from selling our hanging baskets and plants.

“The netball club really is a big family affair really, everyone clubbed together to help raise the money and everyone wanted to get involved and help.”

Doreen established the Pinehurst Netball Club to answer a need for youngsters in the area wanting to have something to do.

“I’ve always been passionate about netball and we didn’t have a club, which is why I thought I would start one and it has just grown, “ she said.

Visit www.justgiving.com/brighter-futures