A CHARITY supporting people with blood cancer has been given almost £4,000 thanks to Birchwood staff members' fundraising in honour of a colleague's wife.

The Bloom Appeal, which invests in research into treating and curing leukaemia, lymphomas and other blood cancers, was presented a cheque by environmental consultancy, TEP.

Amanda Plumb, who works for the company, lost her wife Sandra two years ago after she died from Leukemia, and they both received a lot of support from Bloom.

Members of staff took part in a range of events to raise money including the Liverpool Kids 1K, a World Cup themed bake sale and games, a sponsored abseil on Newcastle Quayside, the Great North Run, Halloween fancy dress and further kind donations throughout the year.

Francis Hesketh, director at TEP, said: "TEP is very committed to raising funds for a charity which has a special meaning for our staff, and we were delighted to be able to help The Bloom Appeal with its focus on research and care for people experiencing blood cancers.

"We’ve had lots of different activities over the year, including bake sales, a Halloween fancy dress contest, a pub quiz and even a World Cup themed keepy-uppy challenge.

"Sadly our directors combined score on keepy-uppies was utterly eclipsed by the score of 66 from one of our landscape managers!"