DJ heroes who have been getting Swindon clubbers on their feet for decades will return to the dancefloor this weekend.

Trio Paul Lewis, Tony McCluskey and Glyn Prince will take to the stage on Friday for a disco night in aid of the Brighter Futures radiotherapy appeal.

With the appeal now £200,000 short of the £2.9 million target, the DJs hope their club night at Old Town hotel the Kings will help push Brighter Futures closer to its goal.

Tony, a RAF veteran who now works as a cardiac nurse at Great Western Hospital, said: “We’re getting near the Brighter Futures appeal target. We need one final push.”

For Brunel Rooms legends Paul and Tony, the Brighter Futures bid to furnish a new Swindon radiotherapy unit with new cancer-fighting machines has a personal resonance. Both men have lost family members to cancer.

Paul’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. “Initially, things looked like they were going pretty well, but she had to go to Oxford on a regular basis for treatment,” he said. “She died when she was 59.

“Then about six years ago my dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He’s in his 80s. When he was first diagnosed he had to have intensive radiotherapy. Family members took it in turns to drive him to Oxford every day for six weeks. It had a real impact.”

Tony’s father, also a RAF veteran, died from lung cancer 12 years ago, aged 76. He said: “I just remember the journeys back from Oxford were awful. If a new centre in Swindon is going to do any good, let’s go for it. Let’s get this radiotherapy centre up and running.

“If any good comes of people having had that experience of travelling to and from Oxford for treatment, we can’t waste it for everybody else in Swindon.”

Paul and Tony have known each other for 40 years, growing up playing DJ nights around Swindon and the south west.

After leaving the air force in the early 1980s, Tony set up his own mobile disco and played everything from parties to clubs – all the while working as a nurse: “I’ve loved music all my life. My first love was Motown.”

Now a director at Lloyds Bank and a board member at Great Western Hospital, Paul toyed with the idea of becoming a professional DJ in his 20s. He was playing alongside now household names like Pete Tong and Westwood.

Instead, he threw himself into corporate life and devoted his weekends to music.

Both played the Brunel Rooms on a regular basis. “Swindon was the place,” said Tony. “People came from London and Bristol. The Brunel Rooms was the biggest place in the south west.”

On Friday, they will be playing disco music from the 70s and 80s, which is Paul’s speciality.

“The night will be a bit of fun and hopefully a bit of a celebration for Brighter Futures,” he said.

The 70s and 80s Disco Classics night is at Kings, Wood Street, on Friday, November 23, from 10pm.

Tickets are £3 and can be bought from Kings.