Between the 10^th and 16^th June, Yorkshire “Pinked It Up” in many different fun and exciting ways to raise funds and awareness of the support they give to families affected by Childhood Cancer across Yorkshire.

This June was the launch of #PINKITUP week for Yorkshire based Children’s Charity Candlelighters. Their aim was to turn Yorkshire PINK by getting as many business’ and the community involved as possible.

Well known buildings in Yorkshire such as Leeds Civic Hall, Bradford Alhambra, Leeds First Direct Arena and Knaresborough Castle all shone bright pink in the evenings to support Candlelighters. There were even restaurants, shops and florists taking part by turning their shop windows PINK with multiple business’ on Town Street in Horsforth turning their whole street pink!

During the week, there were 75 brave people who took on the 60ft abseil down the Michael Sadler Building at Leeds University. This was a fantastic event that brought the community and business’ together to conquer fears for many and the sponsorship received was incredible, currently totalling over £10,000!

An event that took place within the community was a #PINKITUP Street Party held by Family Events Volunteer Stacy Proctor. She said:

‘I am lucky enough to be a Family Events Volunteer for Candlelighters, however this year has been my first attempt at fundraising for this amazing charity, so I decided to run 3 events to raise awareness and funds. From this the fundraising went from strength to strength and I have to say out of this years events the #PINKITUP event has been the most significant event to achieve my goal.

I held a Street/Garden Party and it was absolutely amazing, not only did we raise vital funds but we raised so much awareness. Most importantly it brought friends, family and a whole community together to share what fantastic support Candlelighters provides for families and children affected by childhood cancer. It also gave me and my family members who are also championing the work Candlelighters do, a chance to celebrate what a wonderful charity it is and how others can offer support by volunteering, getting involved with fundraising or just by spreading the word.

The day was literally full of PINK, we decorated pink, wore pink, ate pink at the pink BBQ, had a pink tin can alley and even had a pink brave the shave! The fun was endless. 

Reflecting on the PINKITUP event it was most certainly my biggest achievement, in fact I now have 4 friends running events for Candlelighters this year and a further 2 intending to run next year.  My wonderful Mother-in-Law is also now an Events Volunteer and loves cheering everyone on at the different challenge events held throughout the year. Above all we have shared with our community who Candlelighters are and the amazing work that they do. I have 3 local businesses that have, and will continue to offer significant donations for the events and a further 6 businesses who have already contributed but have now committed to contributing to future events by offering raffle prizes. Now to me that is a huge success and I will definitely be PINKINGITUP next year!”