NEWS that a cancer charity has axed a fundraising walk even though it raised £600,000 has sparked a fierce debate at theboltonnews.co.uk.

Dozens of people from Bolton took part in the night-time marathon Shine which took place at Old Trafford to raise cash for Cancer Research UK.

Bosses from the charity made the decision to scrap the event because the sum raised was dwarfed by the £2.6 million generated by an identical walk in London. Organisers said it had been a “tough decision” but that attention would now be switched to the south.

Several people criticised the move, but others welcomed it as they believed more money would go to local good causes.

Bolton News reader Jean Rostron wrote on Facebook: "Sorry — people from the area will not travel to London. It would cost too much. Think you will find people feel they shouldn’t support the charity now. It's an insult."

Marzi30 wrote on theboltonnews.co.uk: “Well if they can turn their nose up at a paltry £600,000, I call it greed.”

Undetectableman said: “This just does not make sense. So they are writing off £600,000 whichever way you look at it. The total income could be £3.2 million rather than just £2.6m.”

Wsw69 added: “Absolutely disgraceful. A 'paltry' £600,000 just thrown away like that. This shows corporate greed at its worst, not to mention throwing it all back in the face of local people.”

But Lanchester said: “To those who would have supported ‘Shine’, please consider giving your support to the Midnight Memories Walk for Bolton Hospice in June, I’m pretty sure they could put £600,000 to very good use.”

Rememberscarborough wrote: “Personally, I doubt London has enough money to double its contribution and I hope the Bolton Hospice benefits from the move.”