Staff at Morrisons’ Bradford headquarters ‘dressed down for a pound’ yesterday to raise an impressive £1,846 for the £1 million Telegraph & Argus Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal.

Workers at the supermarket giant’s Gain Lane head office threw their weight behind our campaign by swapping their business wear for smart, casual clothes and paying £1 for the privilege.

All money raised by staff at Hillmore House will go towards our fundraising quest to buy Bradford University’s Institute of Cancer Therapeutics (ICT) a new mass spectrometer, which could help its scientists pioneer new cancer treatments ten times faster than ever before.

It will also help further cement Bradford’s world-class reputation as a pioneer in the fight against the disease.

The group of about 2,000 head office workers decided to get involved in the campaign – which we announced with the University, charity Yorkshire Cancer Research and principal supporter the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust last week – to help us reach our £1 million target as soon as possible.

David Hewitt, Morrisons’ communities manager, said: “As a proud Bradford retailer, we take the role we play within the community very seriously.

“When we were given the opportunity to get involved with an important cause like the T&A Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal, we were only too pleased to play our part.

“We’re proud our colleagues at head office were able to contribute almost £2,000 to the cause and hope it helps the charity in its work.”

Staff at the building hold regular ‘dress down for a pound’ days to raise cash for good causes – usually on the last Friday of each month. However, yesterday’s was held as a one-off to mark Morrisons’ chief executive Dalton Philips announcing its first trading quarter results of 2013 to employees.

The supermarket business, which has so far raised £5 million through a partnership with charity Save the Children, joins a list of generous T&A readers who have decided to donate cash to our campaign. We need your help to smash the magic target and want you to get in touch with your fundraising plans.

The T&A Crocus Cancer Appeal is named after the British native autumn flower, which scientists at the ICT used to create a ‘smart bomb’ – a new cancer treatment which has the ability to find and destroy solid tumours without damaging healthy tissue.

The drug, which is being developed by spin-out company Incanthera, is due to begin clinical trials later this year or early next year. It is hoped the money raised during our campaign will allow the ICT’s scientists to make similar breakthroughs and develop more non-toxic treatments to fight the disease.

To tweet about the campaign, use the hashtag #crocusappeal.