Can you find eight people you want to spend the night with?

The charity is encouraging friends, family and work colleagues to get together and enter Relay For Life, a unique celebration of life and hope which unites communities to help beat cancer.

Teams of between eight to 15 people, of all ages, levels of fitness and from all walks of life are needed to take part at Ballymena Rugby Club over the weekend of May 29-30.

Teams raise as much money as possible in the months leading up to the event through a wide range of fundraising activities and securing donations from friends, families and work colleagues.

Lisa Kirkwood, volunteer Chair of Cancer Research UK’s Relay For Life in Ballymena, said: “Relay For Life is a great way to spend time with your friends, family and colleagues while raising money for a truly worthwhile cause.”

During the event itself, team members take it in turns to walk round a track while everyone else enjoys a wide range of fun activities on offer.

As Relay For Life is non-stop through the night, those team members not on the track can take turns to rest, eat, or sleep in their tents which are set up at the rugby ground.

As dusk falls, the atmosphere quietens as the Candle of Hope ceremony begins. The event is the most poignant part of Relay For Life when specially made Candle of Hope bags - decorated with touching messages in memory or in celebration of loved ones - are filled with sand and lit up with candles around the track.

This will be the fourth time Relay For Life has taken place in Ballymena.

Lisa added: “One-in-three people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives. Taking part in Relay For Life is about being part of a community united in the belief that it can make a difference and help beat cancer.”

Cancer Research UK funds the work of scientists, doctors and nurses who are dedicated to beating cancer by understanding its causes and investigating how best to prevent, diagnose and treat it.

Thanks to Cancer Research UK’s work, more people are surviving cancer than ever before. Survival rates have doubled over the last 30 years and the charity has been at the heart of that progress.

But despite improvements in treatment, cancer causes one-in-four of all deaths in the UK. Cancer Research UK wants to change that and needs the help of people in Ballymena to help save many more lives.

For more information on how to enter Relay For Life, visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/relay or call 08716 41 26 02.