Rotaract is staging a barn dance to boost funds for a life-saving appeal.

Members of the Keighley club are holding the event on Saturday, June 5, to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust. The trust is the club's chosen charity for this year, sparked by the efforts to find a potential bone marrow donor for young Keighley leukaemia sufferer Jack Gales.

The dance is at Aireview Farm, Harden Road, Long Lee, at 8pm. Everyone is welcome. There will be a licensed bar and supper.

Club spokesman Rob Fryatt told us: "We have been holding a barn dance annually now for more than five years, and it's become our biggest fundraiser. I'm a registered bone marrow donor and we have been doing bits of fundraising on and off for the trust over the years. With Jack's appeal ongoing we are specifically targeting the cause this year."

Tickets for the dance are £5 for adults and £2.50 for children, including supper. They can be obtained from the farm or by contacting Rob on 01535 656181 or 01535 681452.

Keighley Rotaract Club - which caters for people aged 18 to 30 - has around 15 members, and welcomes new recruits. Meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at the Flappit pub.

A Keighley woman has come up with a white- knuckle way of raising cash for charity.

Annette Johnson, 30, is taking part in a white-water rafting event to raise money for the Alzheimer's Disease Society, the leading care and research charity for people with dementia.

The sheltered housing Estate Manager at Hanover Court in Parkers Lane, Utley, will paddle through the powerful rapids of a river in North Wales to keep the pounds flowing.

Annette, who was born in Keighley and lives in Wilsden, will cross over the border on Saturday, June 19, for the adrenalin-pumping event.

She says: "The society has provided us with very good support at Hanover Court in the past and it will continue to do so. This is my way of helping it out.

"I'm really looking forward to the rafting. I just hope it isn't too wet or cold on the day."

Residents and fellow members of staff at Hanover Court have already started to rally around her in a bid to raise as much cash as possible. Annette hopes to realise more than £500, which she will split 50-50 with the national office and the Bradford branch of the society. Anyone who would like to make a donation should make cheques or postal orders payable to the Alzheimer's Disease Society, and send them to: Miss A Johnson, the Estate Managers Office, Hanover Court, Parkers Lane, Utley, BD20 6DW.

Nursery staff at Keighley College are holding a charity disco at Keighley's Cougar Park tonight. The money raised will be used to send eight nurses with toys and medical equipment to an orphanage in Romania.

Nurse Sharon Magee, 28, of Wheathead Lane, Keighley, says: "This is the third year we have made the trip to Romania. We have visited an orphanage at a town called Rimnicu Sarat and want to take toys and colouring books for the children. We estimate that it will cost about £340 for each nurse to be sent to Romania. We have been provided with a van from the Joy charity at Shipley so we need to be able to fill it with petrol. We usually cross the channel by ferry and then drive overland to Romania."

"We hope to have two trips this year. We are really glad that the Cougars have given us the room for free. The DJ is a man called Top Banana and there will also be raffle during the party."

Tickets are £2 each and are available from the Cougars shop in Cavendish Court. The disco starts at 8pm.

today (28 May).

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