FORMER president of the Marlborough and District Rotary Club Rex Sandbach presented a cheque to Beating Bowel Cancer for £1,000, a charity he holds dear as a survivor of the disease.

After a year of fundraising for his chosen charity, Mr Sandbach presented the donation to Jim Ennis from Beating Bowel Cancer at the meeting of the club on Monday (October 18).

Mr Sandbach, of Golding Lane in Marlborough, said: “I am a survivor of bowel cancer. I was treated in 2010 and I am pleased to say that I am still here. The main thing is that bowel cancer is very treatable if you catch it at the right time, but it does still kill a lot of people. One in eighteen people will be diagnosed with the disease, my father died of it.

“To have newspaper coverage and to be able to get the word out may mean that a person would be motivated to go and be checked. Beating Bowel Cancer is a very important charity, it has a network of nurses and past sufferers which are on hand to help people going through the treatment. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to donate the money to such an effective charity.”

The money from the rotary was raised by the club during Mr Sandbach’s year of presidency, he also became an active volunteer with Beating Bowel Cancer, providing telephone advice and support to people and their families suffering from the disease.

Geoff Oades, of the Marlborough and District Rotary, said: “This is another example of how local support for Rotary’s fund raising activities enabled them to support such important charities as Beating Bowel Cancer.”