A long-service award was presented to charity stalwart Gillian Rose at Mullion Cancer Research UK's annual general meeting at the WI hall last Thursday.

Assistant treasurer Mrs Rose, who has supported the branch for the past five years, was presented with a special brooch by Cornwall Community Fundraiser Beverly Bell, who also received a cheque for £4,850 from the Mullion committee on behalf of Cancer Research.

Mrs Bell thanked the committee for their "sterling" work in support of the charity and expressed her amazement at how much money continued to be raised each year from the people of Mullion and the surrounding area. Their contribution is added to the wider Cornwall fundraising effort, which is higher per head of population than any other county.

She went on to outline the improvements that have been made to both research and treatment in the two years since the merger of the two largest research fundraisers, and gave details of the many themed events planned for the coming year.

She finished by thanking the committee and the people of Mullion for their generous cheque and assuring them it would be put to the best possible use.

In other AGM business, branch chairman Joan Butler welcomed two new members to the committee, and paid tribute to another recent recruit who had sadly died from cancer. Mrs Rose presented the statement of accounts, which showed an increase in revenue to last year.

President Dr Geoff Wood thanked the committee for their hard work over the past year and wished them well in forthcoming events.

The officers and committee were re-elected and dates of events over the coming 12 months arranged. The first event is a jumble sale at the WI hall at 10.15am on Saturday, February 21, and the branch hopes it can look forward to the continuing generous support of the local community for this, and subsequent, events.