JUST over eight months into our Swindon Cancer Appeal and we are already a third of the way to reaching our £600,000 target.

That's a major achievement considering that the Evening Advertiser and Macmillan Cancer Relief have set aside three years to raise the money.

And it's all down to the generosity of Swindon people and businesses. Our appeal kicked off in March with a hefty donation of £80,000 from Nationwide, a company well known for its community spirit.

Since then hundreds of you have pitched in to organise events and donate cash. You've shaved your heads, walked your dogs and held concerts and coffee mornings to help reach the target.

One such event this week was our grand sporting dinner with guest speaker, Portsmouth Football Club manager Harry Redknapp. The dinner raised £5,000.

The appeal will fund specialist cancer nurses for the peopl of Swindon and Marlborough.

But we're still a long way from the final amount.

So our message to you is: Thank you. You are a terrific, generous bunch. But please, please do not give up now. There's a long way still to go.

Keep it up and we could reach our goal even sooner than we hoped.