A charitable foundation set up by a former Bradford businessman and his wife has awarded a £20,000 donation to the Telegraph & Argus Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal.

Stuart and Janet Brown, of the Kirkby Foundation, visited Bradford University to meet scientists who will benefit from our £1 million fundraising campaign as they announced their generous donation.

We hope to buy the university’s Institute of Cancer Therapeutics a new mass spectrometer, which will allow researchers to study the role of protein in cancer ten times faster than ever before.

It is hoped this state-of-the-art machine could hold the breakthrough to developing less toxic and more targeted tumour-blasting cancer treatments.

Mr Brown, who has previously worked in the city at the former W&J Whitehead business, said he and his wife were delighted to support the campaign, which earlier this month hit the £100,000 milestone.

“When we visited the university we were very impressed with its facilities and the persistence, commitment and desire to conquer the appeal’s target,” he said. “The university contacted us and we set up a meeting to see how we could help.

“This campaign will make a massive difference and we’re pleased to be able to work in partnership with the university.

“I worked in Bradford for eight to ten years, so part of my heart is in Bradford.”

Mr and Mrs Brown, who live in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, decided to set up a charitable foundation after getting involved in the creation of two orphanages in Kenya in 2003.

“It took 20 boys off a rubbish tip, where they were living at the time,” he said. “They had nothing.

“We went out there for the first time three years later and met a 14-year-old boy called Livingston, who at the age of 11 couldn’t read or write.

“Three years down the line he was fluent in six languages because of the opportunities he had had.

“We decided that if we could set up a foundation we would, and when I sold my business three years ago we were fortunate enough to be able to.

“We support specific capital projects, mainly in the North of England.”

The T&A Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal is being run with the university, the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust and Yorkshire Cancer Research.

A spokesman for the appeal said: “We would like to thank the Kirkby Foundation for their generous donation.”