Cancer Research UK’s Relay for Life at Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds, to take part over July 5 and 6

Plans are picking up speed for this year’s Relay for Life, in Bury St Edmunds.

Raising money for Cancer Research UK, the event with a festival feel will take place at Nowton Park over the weekend of July 5 and 6.

It will begin at noon on the Saturday with the poignant opening lap for cancer survivors who have registered to take part this year.

Live music and themed laps will then continue for the next 24 hours as team members take it in turn to walk around a track to show their determination to continue the fight against cancer.

At about 9pm as dusk settles, participants will remember loved ones they have lost as well as celebrating survivorship at the Candle of Hope ceremony.

Poems will be recited and songs sung, then a cancer survivor will share their story before the walking continues again around the track, now illuminated with specially-dedicated candle bags that will burn throughout the night.

The Bury St Edmunds event is the only one for the whole of Suffolk. In 2024 almost £43,000 was raised, bringing the event’s total to over half a million pounds since it first started in the grounds of British Sugar back in 2009.

The free-entry event is open to the public. Come and have fun at the team stalls, enjoy the BBQ or a freshly-cooked pizza, bring a blanket or chair to sit on and enjoy the varied entertainment.

Cancer survivors can still register as individuals for the 2025 relay and there is also time for teams to sign up. To sign up go to: https://bit.ly/RegistrationRelay4LifeBSE