CARING staff at a Johnstone charity shop are doing their bit to combat cancer.

The team at the Cancer Research store in Houstoun Square are getting set to support World Cancer Day.

Taking place on Monday, the event encourages people to show support, raise their collective voice, take personal action and press governments to do more to fight the disease.

The Johnstone staff have been selling unity bands to raise money for the cause in their store and will head to Tesco, in Linwood, this weekend as they look for more donations from generous members of the public.

Vicky Mauchan, store manager, has thanked the people of Johnstone for their support so far.

She told The Gazette: “It is always amazing how much everybody supports us.

“Customers always back us and we are incredibly grateful for their support.

“We will be taking 11 buckets with us on Saturday and hope to fill them up.

“This is really important in helping us to save lives.

“We are just hopeful it doesn’t snow and put people off coming out.”

World Cancer Day is the only day on the global health calendar where activists can unite under the one banner in a positive and inspiring way.

Approximately 31,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year in Scotland, with just over half of these cases leading to death.

According to IDS Scotland, mortality rates are decreasing and just over 10 per cent fewer people died due to the disease in 2017 compared to 2007.

If caught early, figures suggest nearly 70 per cent of people can survive cancer, compared to just 52 per cent who don’t if the illness is not diagnosed in the first five years.