A CHARD haulage company hosted a day of games and activities for the community to promote the industry and support a charity working to find a cure for brain tumours.

Dearden’s Haulage and Aggregate held the annual awareness-raising event on Saturday as part of the Road Haulage Association’s National Lorry Week in aid of Brain Tumour Research.

The day focused on recruitment in response to the national shortage of lorry drivers, including a competition to win free training to become a driver

Wayne Thresher, 50, is among employees with a personal connection to the cause.

An aunt died in her early 40 from a brain tumour, while a cousin in her early 30s has been receiving treatment for the same condition.

Dearden's director Helen Dearden said: “Each year we host an event to support charity and promote the haulage industry, with this year’s focus on recruiting for the driver shortage. We put it out to all of our employees and they wanted to raise funds and awareness for Brain Tumour Research.”

Deputy Mayor Cllr Martin Carnell attended the event in Tesco Chard car park, which games such as wheel of fortune, beanbag throwing, a tombola and raffle.

Alongside a photobooth where people could pose in a replica of the inside of a lorry, there were ten lorries parked up, with drivers in pink top hats.

Ilminster mum-of-three Katie Galan-Wilkinson, a 37-year-old brain tumour patient, attended as a volunteer.

In 2019, during her third pregnancy, Katie discovered she was living with a grade three anaplastic astrocytoma.

Four days after giving birth to baby Mario, she went into surgery to remove the brain tumour and has since received chemotherapy.

She said: “It was great to meet lots of people from the community who wanted to support the event and help find a cure for this disease.”

Mel Tiley, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “We were delighted to have Dearden’s Haulage and Aggregate support us for this fun event, which has helped raise awareness of brain tumours in the community, selected as a result of members of their staff being personally impacted.”

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure.