NEWS AGENCY DELIVERS MORE THAN THE NEWS

'We lost our nine year old son Philip to neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, and decided to help others avoid the disease. We also set out to help find a less traumatic treatment than chemotherapy/ said Tony

Sacarello as we had a coffee at Sacarello's Coffee House in Irish Town, which is owned by his second cousin Patrick.

He was telling me how he and his wife Margaret came to establish the Gibraltar-based charitv Re search into Childhood Cancer in 1989. You can see the RlCC's col lecting tins on the counters of a great number of shops throughout the Rock, just one of the constant fund-raising activities vigorously pursued by Tony and Margaret,as sisted by another eight committee members and what Tony described as 'umpteen helpers who are in valuable to us'.These include Tony and Margaret's two sons Craig and Gavin, the latter living in the UK and providing a useful link.

Craig and his friend Charles Linares helped raise more funds by running in the London Marathon two years ago, with all the sponsor ship money going to the Great Ormond Street Hospital and vari ous research funds.'In years before that, other Gibraltarians have run it for us,' said Tonv, adding,'for which we are very grateful.'

Does running the RICC take up a lot of time, I wondered.'Oh it's continual;' he replied without hesi tation.'Collecting the tins,commit tee meetings, used stamps and phone cards, banking, doing the accounts, the annual audit... it's like running another business. But you do it,' he said.

Ah yes, the other business. Al though I was mainly concerned with the RICC, 1 digressed to ask about the background to his longrunning busy newsagents, L. Sacarello at 96 Main Street, which was founded by Tony's father eighty years ago in 1923, and has since expanded to include Stop Press at the Rotunda opposite the airport as well as having built up the wholesale distribution side of the busine.ss to the extent that the company now has three vans out delivering all day.'The results of our wholesale distribution can be seen throughout Gibraltar,' said Tony, who was full of praise for the three employees who operate that part of the service. 'All three are very capable and run it themselves. I'm very fortunate to have them in

Ton}/ Sacarello behind the counter of his news Of^ency my employ,' he said. Meanwhile, back at the original Main Street shop, if it's not Tony himself man ning the till then it's sure to be his brother-in-law and partner Tony now most of the British press is printed in Madrid, except for the Dnily Mail which comes from Se ville. A van gets special customs clearance to bring the news in

Every penny collected locally goes to either the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children or to research projects recommended by a consultant there

Robinson. Tony couldn't tell me how long Tony has been with him. He thought hard and gave up. 'We've been together so long I've forgotten. It's buried in the mists of time,' he laughed. The other regu lar face behind the Main Street counter is Marathon Man himself, son Gavin.

The company has mainly been dealing directly with the same UK newspapers and magazine publish ers for all of its eighty years, but Tony told me that the system has changed in the last couple of years. 'Everything used to be flown in from the UK,' he explained, 'but through the frontier at nine o'clock every morning. The Giianiian and the magazines still come in by air, though,' he said.

Along with newspapers, the shop shelves also display the taste ful Medici greetings cards, station ery and a small selection of books for impulse buyers. Tony said he is gradually phasing out the books in order to increase his range of sta tionery,but he will always have the Medici cards.

So, back to the charity. I was pleased to learn that every penny collected locally goes to either the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children or to research projects rec ommended by a consultant there, Dr Anthony Mikalsky,the Institute of Child Health being one of the main beneficiaries.The only excep tion to the'every peruiy' rule is that when money is raised through a special activity in Gibraltar, a book sale for example, then 25';. of the proceeds goes to a local children's fund,such as the Rainbow Ward at St Bernard's. Otherwise, all admin costs arc borne privately by the committee themselves.

As well as local support, the RICC receives contributions from people in the UK,'Mainly people we know and who knew Philip,' Tony explained.

The next event is an Attic Sale and Auction on the 5th April at the Calpe Rowing Club.'We're plan ning that anyone can donate cash or goods for auction with a reserve price. We will charge a commission of just 10% of the sale price for the RICC fund,' he told me,adding that this would widen the range of con tributions and give the public a chance to participate.The sale starts at 11am and the auction at 3pm.

'Meanwhile,' Tony emphasised, 'we are very grateful to those who collect used stamps for us(even the ordinary Gibraltar 5p stamps are interesting to other people around the world) and we are also now collecting old phone cards.'

So, there are three simple ways to help a most worthwhile cause which has been appreciated enough by research projects to have even earned the RICC a mention in the British Medical Journal for help ing a doctor get British government backing for his research; businesses can save stamps, a lot of people can save their phone cards, and every one can drop some small or large change into one of the blue and white shop counter collecting boxes.

Stamps and cards can be left at the news agency, a few doors up from Barclays Bank. And if you would like to help, you'll be made very welcome —just call Margaret Sacarello on 75538.

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