Former members of Girls Aloud are to host a fundraising gala for cancer research next month in honour of their late bandmate Sarah Harding. The singer, who enjoyed huge success in the group, was just 39 when she died last September.
The Primrose Ball in London was organised at Sarah's request. And it was named after her lyrics from their hit song The Promise where she sings, “Here I am, walking Primrose”.
Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts will host the event, with Fearne Cotton presenting and broadcaster Johnny Gould hosting a live auction. Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson and The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde are also among the line-up due to perform alongside Years & Years singer Olly Alexander.
In July, Sarah's bandmates took part in a 5k charity run, titled Race For Life For Sarah, to celebrate Sarah’s life and raise money for breast cancer. In a statement about the latest fundraiser, they said: "We are so grateful to The Londoner for hosting the Primrose Ball at their wonderful hotel.
"Charles Oak, hotel director of The Londoner, and Sarah had a very special bond and holding her gala evening there will make the night even more special. Our hope is to raise a huge amount of money that will hopefully prevent other people finding themselves in the same terrifying situation Sarah found herself in.”
Sarah had breast cancer which spread to other parts of her body. The charity gala will raise funds for the Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Cancer Research UK, as part of the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.
The appeal aims to fund research to identify new ways to predict which young women, with no family history of breast cancer, are likely to develop the disease.
