SWINDON rotary clubs donated a whopping £208,000 to Great Western Hospital which will help pay for equipment in the new radiotherapy unit.

This formed part of the largest single donation to the Brighter Futures campaign which will cover the cost of the £2.9 million LINAC machine soon to be installed in the £18.4 million radiotherapy unit.

Once it's operational, thousands of patients will benefit from vital cancer treatment that currently is only on offer in Oxford hospitals, forcing patients in Swindon who need the treatment to regularly make a 70-mile round trip.

A total of 12 clubs in and around Swindon have now collectively donated one third of a million pounds towards the machine during a fundraising effort led by Howard Small which began in 2015 with a donation of £120,000.

When in 2017, the Brighter Futures team asked if the Rotary could do more, the clubs led by the Rotary Club of Swindon, which is the oldest club in the town, responded by committing to making a second significant donation.

Rotary Swindon agreed to use all the money raised at the annual charity ball to match all the efforts of the other Rotary clubs around the town and together they raised £83,000.

Three Rotarians - Peter Hayman, David Pratt, and Peter Wells - formed the team that were determined to then bring Rotary International, which is headquartered in the USA, into the fundraising campaign.

This led to the largest ever global grant made by Rotary International to a project in the UK which boosted the second donation's total to £208,000.

Rotarians handed over the cheque to GWH staff while on-site to view the progress of the nearly-completed radiotherapy unit.

Peter Wells said: “This is a local effort by local Rotarians from Swindon, Royal Wootton Bassett and Marlborough, backed by Rotary International.

"This is what Rotary is all about - delivering practical projects that provide potentially life-changing solutions to local problems.

"We are pleased today as Rotarians to be serving by our actions the people of Swindon and beyond.”

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Kevin McNamara said: “We are eternally grateful for the support of the Rotary Club.

"Quite simply, without their extremely generous donation this major project would not be taking place.

"Work on the centre has really taken off over the past few months and I was pleased the Rotarians were able to see first-hand how their contribution is helping to bring radiotherapy treatment to Swindon.”