STARS from the Mayflower theatre were quick to get their skates on for the Daily Echo’s Final Push.

Jamie Capewell and his co-stars from Starlight Express, currently running at the Southampton theatre, were eager to get texting and get the pounds rolling in for the final stage of the Red and White Appeal.

As revealed in the Daily Echo, there is just £250,000 to go before the appeal reaches its £1.76m target to build a specialist unit for blood cancer patients at Southampton General Hospital.

That means if everyone in the city donated just £1, building work could get underway without any delays.

And thanks to a special Daily Echo text number, donating that pound could not be easier and the stars of the show were keen to do their bit.

Robin Hancox, from The Mayflower theatre, said: “We fully support this Final Push for the Red and White appeal.

“When I asked the visiting company from Starlight Express to help out, they jumped at the chance to get their skates on and show how easy it was to donate by text.

“It seems so many people nowadays are touched by cancer.

“On a personal note, when my father was undergoing an immune system transplant to treat multiple myeloma last year, it was one of the most difficult times for our family.

“He was in an isolation unit stuck at the end of a ward, and it would have been fantastic for him to have been treated in a specialist unit. “So I urge Echo readers to help out and text their donation now.”