A wind band from Durrington Walls has joined a national campaign to raise vital funds for research into brain tumours.

A chamber group, comprised almost entirely of children aged 13 to 17 years old, from The Durrington Walls Wind Band, hosted a Summer Serenade as part of the Brain Tumour Research charity’s annual Do Lunch campaign. The group, known as Die Kleine Kapelle, performed to an invited audience and hosted a special supper in aid of the charity.

Peter Eve, who manages the wind band, decided to support the Brain Tumour Research charity after witnessing Katie Chapman, a member of the band, lose her mum to the disease when she was just 10-years-old. Peter, aged 77, from Salisbury, said: “It was an awful time for Katie when her mum Lorraine died. Music helped her through the trauma of losing her mum and we’ve been supporting her ever since. ‘Doing lunch’ was a fun and easy way to come together and raise money for an important cause.”

Lorraine Chapman was diagnosed with a glioma in July 2010 and initially told that her tumour was low-grade. Some months later, however, it became apparent that Lorraine in fact had a glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive and life-limiting type of brain tumour. The teaching assistant and mum-of-two from Durrington outlived her original prognosis of three months but tragically died in February 2013, aged 45.

Peter has also witnessed how the disease has affected band-member Claire Button, an army major who was diagnosed with a grade two oligodendroglioma in 2008 after she was taken ill at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. Claire’s tumour was then re-diagnosed in 2010 as grade 3 and she underwent chemotherapy and surgery. The tumour has since grown again and she is currently being treated with further chemotherapy.

The wind band, which was formed in September 2005 to provide continuity of musical opportunity for children, has raised over £700 for the charity through its Do Lunch activity.

The national campaign urges people to take part by hosting a summer get-together which could be a formal event at home, a BBQ bonanza, a perfect picnic or a three-course luncheon party. Money raised will go towards helping the Brain Tumour Research charity sustain long-term, life-saving research at its network of world-class research centres in the UK.

Tim Green, Community Fundraising Manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We are encouraging people to set a target of £150 and then aim to smash it. The Durrington Walls Wind Band’s Summer Serenade is a perfect example of how friends and family can come together and Do Lunch for a great cause. We are so grateful to Peter for his ongoing support and for helping to raise awareness of this devastating disease.”

To take part in Do Lunch! and to find out more go to: www.braintumourresearch.org/DoLunch

For further information, please contact:
Farel Williams at Brain Tumour Research on 01908 867221 or 07592 502708 or Farel.Williams@braintumourresearch.org

Notes to Editors

Brain Tumour Research is the only national charity in the UK dedicated to raising funds for continuous and sustainable scientific research into brain tumours, and we are a leading voice calling for greater support and action for research into what scientists are calling the last battleground against cancer.

We are building a network of experts in sustainable research at dedicated Centres of Excellence whilst influencing the Government and larger cancer charities to invest more nationally.

We welcome recent funding announcements for research into brain tumours from the UK Government and Cancer Research UK – £65 million pledged over the next five years. However, this potential funding of £13 million a year comes with a catch – money will only be granted to quality research proposals and, due to the historic lack of investment, there may not be enough of these applications that qualify for grants from this pot.

We want research funding parity with breast cancer and leukaemia. We are calling for a £30-35 million investment every year for research into brain tumours in order to fund the basic research groundwork needed to accelerate the translation from laboratory discoveries into clinical trials and fast-track new therapies for this devastating disease.

The Brain Tumour Research charity is a powerful campaigning organisation and represents the voice of the brain tumour community across the UK. We helped establish and provide the ongoing Secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Brain Tumours (APPGBT). We are supporting the crucial APPGBT 2018 Inquiry into the economic and social impacts of brain tumours and will publish their report in the autumn. We are also a key influencer in the development strategy for the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. 

Key statistics on brain tumours:

• Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone at any age
• Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer
• Just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to brain tumours
• In the UK, 16,000 people each year are diagnosed with a brain tumour
• Brain tumours kill more children than leukaemia
• Brain tumours kill more men under 45 than prostate cancer
• Brain tumours kill more women under 35 than breast cancer
• Less than 20% of those diagnosed with a brain tumour survive beyond five years compared with an average of 50% across all cancers

Please quote Brain Tumour Research as the source when using this information. Additional facts and statistics are available from our website. We can also provide case studies and research expertise for the media.