THE Hunts Post is calling on Huntingdonshire to help raise money for the district s cancer centre after its fundraising efforts were hit by criminals. Callous thieves broke into the cancer treatment centre at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon to steal

THE Hunts Post is calling on Huntingdonshire to help raise money for the district's cancer centre after its fundraising efforts were hit by criminals.

Callous thieves broke into the cancer treatment centre at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon to steal raffle prizes donated to pay for a Christmas dinner for breast cancer patients.

The prizes - bottles of drink and other items - were worth less than �50, but were part of a raffle being organised to raise funds for the breast cancer support group.

Intruders stole bottles of Bacardi and Champagne, after forcing open a locked draw, and a bottle of wine and a make-up set, which were on a table in a foyer area.

A spokesman for Hinchingbrooke Hospital NHS Trust said the theft had left staff at the Woodlands Centre "very disappointed and saddened".

Macmillan Cancer Support, which provides nurses to work in the centre, added: "We are all fundraising really hard to keep the money coming in and it is shocking that someone could have taken these items which were to be used to raise money to support cancer patients."

And Cambridgeshire police officer, Pc Andy Hilbert, who is investigating, described it as a "shameful crime" in which the burglars have "stolen whatever they could find".

The thieves struck at the centre, which provides chemotherapy and cancer-related treatments, between 5pm on Friday, August 14, and 6am on Monday, August 17.

However, there is now an opportunity to provide some support for the centre by helping The Hunts Post put on a fundraising raffle.

To make up for the items that were stolen were are appealing for readers to donate items that we can raffle to raise money for the centre.

Everyone who donates a prize will have their names listed in the newspaper.

Items can be posted to: The Hunts Post, 30 High Street, Huntingdon, PE29 3TB or dropped off at The Hunts Post offices Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.

Items should reach us by Friday, September 25. Details on how to buy tickets will be printed in The Hunts Post.

INFORMATION: Anyone with information about the break-in should contact Pc Hilbert, at Huntingdon Police Station, on 0345 4564564, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.