THANKS to Trafford’s bread lovers, Roberts Bakery has hit its fundraising target to raise £50,000 for the charity Prevent Breast Cancer.

The bakery recently turned five million wholemeal packs pink and asked the borough’s shoppers to pick them up in their supermarket.

The £50,000 raised from the sales across the region will now help fund research that aims to prevent breast cancer – the UK’s most common cancer developed by one in nine women in their lifetime.

Formerly known as Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention, the Wythenshawe Hospital-based organisation is the UK’s only charity dedicated entirely to the prediction and prevention of breast cancer.

Having met its ultimate £50,000 goal, Roberts Bakery is helping to fund ground-breaking gene research which, in time, could revolutionise the UK breast screening programme.

To mark this major fundraising milestone, breast cancer survivor and Roberts’ family member Lindsay Occleston – along with colleagues Peter Styles and Jill Adams – joined the Prevent Breast Cancer team at its Nightingale Centre HQ.

In attendance from Prevent Breast Cancer were chairman Lester Barr, executive director Nikki Barraclough, charity manager Louise Cairns and professor of clinical genetics Professor Gareth Evans, who is leading the SNPs 2 research project that Roberts Bakery will now help fund.

Professor Evans said: “One in nine women in Trafford will develop breast cancer in their lifetime – that’s over 10,000 diagnoses in the borough.

"National statistics show that if current trends continue, this number could increase by 12% over the next 10 years. This is why our work is so important for the generations of today and tomorrow.

“The donation made by Roberts Bakery and those who bought its special pink packs is very much appreciated and has the potential to help us change the breast screening process and, ultimately, prevent the disease.”

Lindsay Occleston said: “We are of course absolutely delighted to reach our £50,000 target and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in Trafford’s towns who has picked up a pink pack over the last 12 months. Without their help we wouldn’t have been able to reach our target and therefore play a role in helping to prevent breast cancer forever.”