A FAMILY-RUN bakery is celebrating reaching its fundraising halfway mark, thanks to Bromsgrove's bread lovers, who have been picking up special pink packs of freshly-baked bread to raise money for breast cancer prevention.

The company has hit its £25,000 milestone for the Genesis Breast Cancer charity, and is now urging residents to carry on buying to help it reach its £50,000 target.

Shoppers can still pick up a pink pack of wholemeal bread in their local supermarkets, which will be on shelf until the total is reached later this year.

The initiative is being driven by Roberts' family member - and breast cancer survivor - Lindsay Occleston.

She said: "We know that an overall healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight plays an important part in reducing the risk of developing breast cancer. This includes eating lots of fruit and vegetables, lean protein, oily fish and wholegrain carbohydrates - such as wholemeal bread, brown rice, pasta and potatoes with skins.

"We are very grateful for all the help the people of Bromsgrove have given us so far, please continue to support us by buying a wholemeal loaf – every pink pack matters to prevent breast cancer forever.”

One in nine women in the UK will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, which equates to around 5,500 women in Bromsgrove. In addition, one in 1,000 men across the country will also develop the disease.

The Roberts Bakery campaign hopes to raise £50,000 to help fund a pioneering research project that aims to predict a woman's risk of the disease through the analysis of her gene fragments.

For more information, visit robertsbakery.co.uk/every-pink-pack-matters.