A race-night to raise money for Sellafield Ltd’s charity of the year for 2008, the Meningitis Research Foundation, was a huge success.

Tony and Pauline Bell, who lost their daughter to the disease two years ago, organised the fund raiser with help from their friends Les and Madge Sharkey. Since Lisa died the couple have raised over £10,000 themselves, and a total of more then £20,000 has been raised by people in West Cumbria in her name. They pulled in a staggering £1,719 on the night, which will be match-funded by Sellafield Ltd.

And Tony made an announcement on the night that proves how well the money is being used. "I spoke to the Meningitis Research Foundation last week, and they told me that they have developed a vaccine for the b-strand of the disease. They are doing a lot of the trials at Manchester University and it is going very well. All of the money we are raising is going towards that.

"That is the strand which killed Lisa, and is the one responsible for the vast majority of deaths among teenagers and young people. I’m told that the vaccine is at the advance trail stage and so far everything has gone really well. It could be available as early as 2012, which will hopefully mean that far fewer parents have to suffer the heartbreak that we’ve endured.

"I think Lisa would be pleased with our fund-raising efforts, and I think that is a brilliant effort by those who attended the race night, people are brilliant and to raise that much is wonderful for the charity.

"It was obviously a hard time when we lost Lisa, but we decided to try and do something productive and have done what we can to raise money in her memory."

Tony, who is engineering manager in the Sellafield Vitrificiation plant, and Pauline, who is a health physics monitor in the separation area on Site, thanked everyone for their efforts. As well as a series of sponsored races where people bought horses and bet on the out come, there was an auction of celebrity merchandise. Top item was a pair of gloves signed and donated by England footballer Scott Carson, and a signed, framed picture of Diego Maradona. Mark Andrews, of the Charlie and Kathleen Dunnery Children’s Fund, ran the auction of goods for the Bells and Les Sharkey and his wife Madge ran the race night.

Tony added: "I’d like to say a big thanks to Les and Madge who did a great job of organising everything on the night. I’d also like to thank Tim and Ronnie, from The Ship, for agreeing to host the event and to the bank that was booked, Headway, as they donated their fee back into the pot."
Another event is planned for September, around the time of Lisa’s birthday.
Inset photo shows Tony and Pauline with Les and Madge.