ON February 7, we asked people around the UK to “Ramp up the Red” for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and join us in the fight for every heartbeat.

It may come as a surprise to your readers that coronary heart disease (CHD) is the UK’s single biggest killer.

It kills nearly one in six men and more than one in ten women and is responsible for almost 74,000 deaths in the UK each year, an average of 200 people each day.

In the south-east CHD is responsible for the deaths of 9,800 people each year and there are almost 276,000 people in the south-east living with CHD.

Our annual fundraising campaign was an opportunity to urge the UK to raise money to continue to fund the vital research needed to fight heart disease. We were not disappointed – we saw people across the southeast fundraise by wearing red make up, red clothing or throwing a red party in support of us.

We are hugely grateful for the funds raised so far, which will go towards supporting the 2.3 million people in the UK currently living with coronary heart disease.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind those who got involved with Ramp up the Red to pay in the money they raised. Every penny raised makes a huge difference.

With this in mind, we wanted to let your readers know that there is still time to get involved with Ramp up the Red and fundraise for the BHF’s life-saving research.

Readers can hold a red bake sale, challenge friends and family to a red-themed quiz or organise their own Ramp up the Red event.

You can even buy a Love Note at your local BHF shop.

For more information about Ramp up the Red or to donate please visit bhf.org.uk/red.

JULIE WATSON, regional head of volunteer fundraising south-east, British Heart Foundation.