MACMILLAN nurses are finally coming to Craven.

A £600,000 appeal to fund five positions is due to be launched later this year, and the cancer charity has moved into premises at Airedale Hospital, Steeton.

Until now, Airedale, Craven and the Yorkshire Dales have not been able to benefit from the services offered by the Macmillan Cancer Relief charity - its nearest base was in Leeds.

And tireless fundraisers from the area have seen their donations shared between services in Yorkshire. Now, every penny raised in Craven will provide care in the locality.

Ingleton woman Anna Jackson, 23, who lost her mother to cancer, is heading the appeal.

"Macmillan provides a range of services to help people living with cancer. It funds nurses, doctors and other health professionals as well as providing information, support and patient grants," she said."My role as a fundraiser is obviously to find the money for these services."

The target amount will be used to fund nurse specialists in palliative, lymphoedema, community clinical and gynaecology oncology care along with a GP facilitator.

Three of the nurses will be based at the hospital, one will share his time between Skipton Hospital and Manorlands Hospice, in Oxenhope, and the GP facilitator will be based in the community.

The posts reflect the needs identified by the local primary care trusts. If the appeal is successful, the number of palliative care nurses at Airedale will be doubled and all patients referred with specialist needs will be seen by a specialist nurse, which is currently not the case.

It will also be the first time that patients from the Yorkshire Dales will be able to access a gynaecology oncology nurse specialist locally - previously women had to travel to Leeds and Bradford for treatment.

The £600,000 will pay for the set up costs for the posts and fund them for three years. After that, responsibility for them will pass over to the primary care trust. However once the nurses are in place, it is guaranteed that they will continue - and Anna is hoping more will be added over the coming years.

Anna has been involved with the charity since she was a teenager.

"My mum had cancer when I was 12 years old. She was ill for six years before she died when I was 18," she said.

"She had a Macmillan nurse throughout the whole time, who was absolutely fantastic. I wanted to give something back."

Anna first raised money by doing a coast-to-coast cycle ride across Mexico and after leaving Lancaster University joined the charity full-time. She was originally based in Leeds but jumped at the chance to return to her roots.

Recently she has been raising money by abseiling down Baitings Dam, near Halifax, a 200 feet drop. But for those less adventurous the next big fundraiser is the World's Biggest Coffee Morning which sees groups across the country sharing a cup of tea and a chat on September 26.

The charity's work is vital to help improve cancer services in the district, but it desperately needs the support and involvement of the local community.

It already has committees in Skipton, Ilkley and Harrogate but would like to hear from schools, churches, organisations, pubs and clubs as well as local businesses and charitable trusts which are interested in helping.

Anna is happy to talk to groups about the charity and its work in the community and can be contacted on 01535 294536.