MARIE Curie is looking for thousands of people to take part in street and supermarket collections during its annual fundraising campaign – the Great Daffodil Appeal.

Last year the street and supermarket collections raised more than £168,000 at 370 different sites across Yorkshire and more than 3,100 volunteers came out in force to give out daffodil pins in exchange for donations. This year the charity is hoping to smash that figure but needs more than 3,500 people from across the county to pledge their support by signing up to take part in a collection.

The Great Daffodil Appeal runs throughout Spring and collections will take place at Morrisons in Guiseley and Yeadon between March 9 and 15.

Barbara Croxen, a semi-retired property professional from Menston, joined the Bradford Hospice development board in 2006 and four years later set up the Aireborough Fundraising Group. She has collected for the Great Daffodil Appeal for the last eight years.

She said: “In the run up to the appeal, I recruit collectors via social media and then go on to take part in supermarket collections. Volunteering for such a worthy charity gives me an incredible sense of achievement and talking to members of the public who have lost loved ones through terminal illness is both humbling and inspiring. The charity needs volunteers to work together to support the nursing service in the region and collectively we can make a positive impact in the community by helping to ensure nurses can care for more people.”

Anyone who wants to volunteer for Great Daffodil Appeal collections should visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil or call free on 0800 304 7025.

The charity says every five minutes someone in the UK dies without getting the care and support they need at the end of their life.

Organisers of the appeal expect that more than 400,000 daffodil pins will be distributed in Yorkshire at collections during the 2020 appeal.

In 2018/19, Marie Curie nurses cared for more than 2,300 patients in their own homes across Yorkshire and provided more than 107,000 hours of care. The charity’s hospice in Bradford provided care and support to approximately 550 people in 2018/2019.

Last year each collection raised, on average, more than £450, funding more than 22 hours of nursing care. Each collector raised, on average, more than £115, equivalent to funding almost six hours of nursing care.