THIS year's Relay for Life got off to a colourful start when supporters and teams took to the streets of Worcester for the event's official launch today (Saturday).

Relay for Life is set to take place over the weekend of September 12 and 13 but up until then the teams and organising group will be working hard to raise money prior to the event.

The weekend long relay will involve teams of up to 15, who have to keep at least one member running or walking around the track at RGS the Grange in Fernhill Heath for 24 hours between Saturday at noon and the same time on the Sunday.

In the coming weeks the fundraisers and the teams, who are all gathering money for Cancer Research UK, will be attending various events around Worcester.

Vivienne Bull, of Hallow, near Worcester, who has lymphoma was at the launch dressed as Pork Chop the pig.

She heads up the Doers and Divas team, who raised the money money last year topping the table with just under £7,000.

"The cancer I have is not curable," said the 49-year-old, who will be celebrating her 50th birthday with a collection bucket at Tesco next Saturday. "Well it's not curable yet. I have had it for ten years.

"My message is if you can beat cancer you can beat anything."

This is one of the main messages from the people behind the relay who not only want to encourage more teams to take part but also hope people will come down between noon and 8pm on the Saturday and enjoy the event.

Vicki Gaffey, one of the organising team, said: "Today is the launch day and we are hoping to make everyone aware of us and we are going to be doing lots of events around the city leading up to the relay in September.

"We will be supporting the Race for Life event and selling flowers and next weekend is the turn Tesco pink even, it's all for Cancer Research UK.

"We also want to encourage more teams to sign up.

"The relay kicks off with the survivors lap and we treat them like guests of honour for the rest of the event. There are stalls run by the teams, and we hope members of the public will come along and join in the festival feeling."

The Relay for Life team are holding a fashion show on Tuesday, April 21, at M&Co in Droitwich, from 7pm and tickets, costing £3, can be purchased at the store.

For more information on the event and to take part visit relay.cancerresearchuk.org or contact Lezley Moran on 07967 724292 or relayworcester@gmail.com.