Organisers of Jack Up The 80s, which this year takes place over the weekend of 11th & 12th August, have chosen Prostate Cancer UK as the festival’s Charity of the Year for 2018.
The ethos of this fun Summer festival has always been to give something back to the local community within which it is held, with a wide range of charities and local good causes such as the Earl Mountbatten Hospice, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, Breast Cancer Research UK, Oxfam, the Joe Ellis Trust, Wight Crystal and IW Scouts all having benefited by being offered a key trading opportunity at the event.
With startling new figures released earlier this year revealing that 11,819 men now die from prostate cancer every year in the UK making this male-only disease the third biggest cancer killer, Jack Up The 80s have chosen Prostate Cancer UK as their charity of the year for 2018 to help bring about awareness of this life limiting illness.
Prostate Cancer UK has a simple ambition – to stop men dying from prostate cancer. 1 man dies every 45 minutes from prostate cancer and if the number of men diagnosed continues to rise it in this way it will become the most common of all cancers by 2030.
Many regulars to both Jack Up The 80s and the Isle of Wight Festival may have seen Islander Ian Gregory working incredibly hard, cycling to raise money and awareness for Prostate Cancer UK. Registered disabled since 1996 but hugely inspired by both the Tour De France and London Olympics, Ian finally managed to get back on a road bike in the Summer of 2015. Not only does he feel is he improving his own health but is able to help others by raising money and inspiring people to get fit, to do the things they love and thought they could never achieve.
Ian says:
“I am so proud to be invited back to this year’s Jack Up The 80s and absolutely over the moon that they have chosen Prostate Cancer UK to be their charity of the year.
“This year Jack Up The 80s have set me a real challenge where I desperately need your support and encouragement. I will be pedaling some 731 miles over the weekend in an attempt to travel the entire length of the country from the Jack Up The 80s site at Smallbrook Stadium in Ryde to the very tip of Scotland at John O’Groats.
Article continues below this advertisement “Your support and donations will greatly help me for each and every mile of this epic challenge. Keep your eyes peeled for updates of my journey over the weekend both on site and social media.”
A spokesperson from Prostate Cancer UK said:
“Thanks to money raised from events and individuals such as Ian who take on challenges for us, we can fund more ground-breaking research. It will also help us provide dedicated support and information to men and their families and make prostate cancer a disease the next generation of men need not fear.”
Anyone with concerns about prostate cancer may contact Prostate Cancer UK’s Specialist Nurses in confidence on 0800 074 8383 (free to landlines and open from 09:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday with late opening until 20:00 on Wednesdays) or online via the Live Chat instant messaging service at www.prostatecanceruk.org.
This year’s Jack up the 80s line-up includes Grammy Award-winning and international chart-topping music legend Leo Sayer, British pop rock group T’Pau, punk princess Toyah Willcox, soul star Jaki Graham, Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp, the one and only Chesney Hawkes and many more.
