A RETIRED teacher who has helped raise thousands of pounds for a cancer charity has been given the all-clear from the disease.

Mary James is now determined to see her local cancer raise £100,000 fundraising this year.

"It will be wonderful if I can celebrate my own recovery by reaching the target," said Mrs James, who is one of the 12- strong members of the Kirkbymoorside group of Marie Curie.

Since she and her friends set the group up six years ago, they have raised £93,111.

"Now we are determined to break through the £100,000 barrier by the end of the year," she said.

Exactly a year after doctors diagnosed her cancer, Mrs James was dealt another cruel when her husband, Pat, was told he had the disease. Mr James died six weeks later.

Mrs James, of Appleton-le-Moors, where she has lived for 13 years, said she had been determined to win her battle for life and was happy to be back planning a series of fundraising events.

She and her husband were teachers at St Martin's Pre-Prep School, at Gilling - Mr James as vice-principal. Both previously taught at a girls' boarding school in Northern Zambia.