WOMEN joined together to support the Paint it Pink campaign aimed at promoting breast cancer awareness.

The campaign was led by Jo Ueung, from Cam, who has terminal cancer, and believes that if she had been more conscientious about checking her breasts, she would have had a much better survival rate.

The Paint it Pink campaign was triggered by an increase in new breast cancer cases in the local area, with Stroud district the highest in the UK for new cases of the disease. The day aimed to promote awareness and to encourage women, and men, to regularly check themselves. Volunteers handed out flyers to people in Parsonage Street, Dursley, on Saturday and local businesses showed their support by decorating their shops in pink.

Cheryl Downton, who has suffered from breast cancer and was part of the team, said: "The day was successful in raising awareness and went even better than we’d hoped. It was a really good day and everyone took part." Cheryl said that they managed to hand out 1,498 information cards and that the overall response was very positive.

"Most of the women we spoke to were very pleased with the leaflet and reacted very positively to what we were doing."

Cheryl, whose mother also suffered from breast cancer, added: "The youngsters seemed to be a bit embarrassed and some of the older women thought that they couldn’t be affected by it.

"It’s important for women of all ages to look after their health as anyone can be affected."

The Paint it Pink campaign is set to become an annual event.