Blackhurst Budd Solicitors in Blackpool has been recognised by Cancer Research UK after facilitating over £263,000 worth of gifts from people choosing to leave a legacy to the charity in their will. 

Solicitors, Ian Bentley and Katy Shakeshaft together with Legal Executive Suzanne Leonard, James Egan and Anne Swarbrick were presented with a Bronze certificate by the charity in acknowledgement of the firm’s ongoing support. Blackhurst Budd have been offering the Free Will Service to people aged 55 and over in the Blackpool area for the past 4 years, giving advice and support for those wishing to write a will or update an existing one.

As part of the service Blackhurst Budd give free guidance for those wishing to leave a legacy gift for Cancer Research UK.

The charity receives no government funding for its research and relies heavily on the generosity of people leaving gifts in their wills. Over a third of its research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer is funded through supporters leaving a legacy to the charity.

Katy Shakeshaft, Wills and Probate Solicitor at Blackhurst Budd said: “We have received a very good response to the Free Will service and we have had many clients leaving significant donations due to friends or members of the family who have been affected by cancer. We find it is a charity that is close to so many people”.

A legacy gift can be anything someone wishes to leave in their will. Traditionally this is money, but it could be anything that has a monetary value like land or property or a specific item. Anything left to Cancer Research UK will free of tax and can be marked to be ring-fenced for research into a specific cancer type or research within a local area.

Clare Moore, Director of Legacies at Cancer Research UK, explained: “We all reach a stage at some point in our lives where we start to look ahead and consider what will happen to our financial affairs in the future, when we may no longer be around.

“At Cancer Research UK, we work with a number of local solicitors including Blackhurst Budd to offer local people aged 55 or over the chance to make an all-important first will or to update an existing one. The service has grown in popularity over the past couple of years and while it is provided free of any obligation, most people choose to kindly leave a gift to the charity.

“By offering Cancer Research UK’s Free Will Service the team at Blackhurst Budd have become well informed about our work and are very supportive of our life-saving research. Whenever their clients express a desire to support us, their team act with great sensitivity as they explain the various options and allow individuals or families to make the right choice in their own good time.

“It’s quite astonishing to think that by simply combining enthusiasm with the highest professional standards Blackhurst Budd has helped secure over £263,000 worth of legacy gifts, which will go a long way towards helping our scientists, doctors and nurses to beat cancer sooner.”

Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress. Every step taken by its doctors, nurses and scientists relies on donations from the public and the kindness of supporters who choose to leave a gift in their will.

The Free Will Service has been running successfully for over 20 years across a network of solicitors in the UK. Anyone who wishes to use the service is asked to consider leaving a legacy gift to Cancer Research UK but is under no obligation to do so.

To make your free Will appointment please call 01253 629 300.

Photograph: L-R Jim Egan, Katy Shakeshaft, Helen Soutar (CRUK), Suzanne Leonard.