HISTORY OF THE PINK ROSE APPEAL

The Pink Rose Dinner Appeal was launched in 2004 to raise money towards building and equipping the Cambridge Breast Cancer Research Unit, which now sits adjacent to the Cambridge Breast Unit, to enable translational research on the Biomedical Campus.

Louise Sunderland approached ACT in 2003 with the idea of a dining-with-friends fundraiser and The Pink Rose Dinner Committee was formed shortly afterwards with Louise as Chair.

Members of the original Pink Rose Dinner Committee included Sally Cassels, Caroline Lane, Georgiana Davidson, Julie Murphy and Isabel Napper.

The Committee was tasked with launching the Pink Rose Appeal to the local community, encouraging supporters to host dinners in October, with guests making a donation to the appeal to “pay for their supper.”

The inaugural Pink Rose Dinner took place on 2nd October 2004.

Thanks to a tremendous response from the community and the generous backing of business sponsors, including Savills, Photosound and Mills & Reeve, amongst many others, total funds raised exceeded £61,000 in the first year.

The Committee continued its impressive work for another four years, with a combination of dinners and local events, raising over £300,000 between 2004-2008 towards establishing and equipping the Cambridge Breast Cancer Research Unit which opened in 2008.

On behalf of all the staff at the Cambridge Breast Cancer Research Unit, Thank you!

The Pink Rose Dinner Committee with Noel Young of Noel Young Wines.
(L-R) Georgiana Davidson, Susanna Wright, Louise Sunderland, Sally Cassels, Noel Young, Isabel Napper, Caroline Lane and Julie Murphy.