Last Night of the Proms raises cash for RVI

Oct 19 2009 The Journal

THE name has changed but the aim has remained the same – to raise much-needed funds for cancer research and patient support while having a good time on one special night of the year.

Saturday saw the 20th North East Last Night of the Proms – now commemorating George Walker, who began it all – and as glittering an array of talent as has ever been mustered on these occasions.

One million pounds raised was a landmark reached a few years ago but this year has seen an additional £72,600 distributed to 10 beneficiaries.

The principal one is the bone marrow research unit at Newcastle’s RVI run by Prof Stephen Proctor, of Newcastle University, who set the tone of the anniversary evening by saying it was 40 years since he first entered medicine.

It was moving to think how many people who attended or supported or benefited from the first Proms concert in 1990 are no longer with us.

But it was equally moving to think how many people are still with us because of the money raised and the improvements in diagnosis and treatment brought about by Prof Proctor’s work. He told the audience in a packed Newcastle City Hall that he had just bumped into a woman, Susan Bell, who had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease 20 years ago, after which her husband suffered the same diagnosis.

“They are both now sitting in row four, in the middle,” he said to applause.

George Walker lived for 13 years after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – enough time to turn this one-off thank-you concert into an enduring North East institution.

For many patients like him, the prognosis is now much better than it was 20 years ago.

Rosalynde Walker, of Westerhope, George’s widow, who has kept the Proms going in his memory, spoke movingly, saying: “I really can’t believe it’s 20 years. They’ve really flown by.”