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Bowel Cancer UK launches innovative breakfast fundraising event

Bowel Cancer UK, the leading national bowel cancer charity, has launched Burns� Breakfast, a fundraising initiative running between 20^th and 28^th January 2007, to coincide with Scotland�s Robert Burns� Day, held on January 25^th each year.

Porridge is the main feature of Burns� Breakfast - making apt use of the celebrated poet�s fondness for that most healthy of breakfast foods, which Burns himself described as �chief o� Scotia�s food�.

Diana Sinclair, fundraiser at Bowel Cancer UK, comments, �There is a clear link between a balanced diet and preventing bowel cancer and at Bowel Cancer UK we aim to encourage people to eat more of what constitutes a healthy diet. Oats are so good for us and Burns� Breakfast is the first of many events we will be holding this year to promote eating porridge and to raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK.� 

Burns� Breakfast will offer members of the public the opportunity to hold fundraising breakfasts at a location of their choice - such as at home with friends; in the workplace with colleagues; or even at a local school or club. In fact, the more unusual the setting, the better: the most innovative venue will receive a special prize.

Burns� Breakfasts will be taking place all over Scotland, as far as Shieldaig in the Western Highlands to Midlothian in the South, and even outside of Scotland, in Suffolk and Paris.

Bowel Cancer UK is encouraging the host of each Breakfast to raise a minimum of �100. This means, the more participants taking part in each event, the smaller the individual donation required to hit this target.

Diana Sinclair adds, �A weekend fundraiser could be turned into a brunch; you could even opt to have the event outside with a Burns� Brunch Barbie. There is no restriction on when to hold the event or for how long, but we feel a breakfast will allow participants to celebrate the bard�s birthday quickly and enjoyably, as well as raise money for Bowel Cancer UK.

�Possible breakfast ideas to accompany a bowl of porridge might include the standard continental fair - fruit juice, bread rolls, toast - and additions with a Scottish twist, such as whiskey marmalade and for the more adventurous kippers and oatmeal.�

If you would like further information on how to organise a Burns� Breakfast or to find out where one near you is taking place, please contact Diana Sinclair on 0131 225 3883 or at [email protected]

Every year over 35,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with bowel cancer - that's someone every 15 minutes. Scotland has the highest rate of bowel cancer per head of population in the UK and one of the highest in Europe. It is the third most common cancer in Scotland for both men and women: approximately 3,500 cases are diagnosed each year.