A TRIO of brave Ipswich sisters are hoping their modelling talent will encourage support for a major cancer fundraising drive.

Rochelle, Olivia and Hannah Bugg, who lost their father James to pancreatic cancer in 2000 and their mother Shirley to a brain tumour this year, are pictured wearing Stand Up To Cancer wristbands.

The sisters, from Ravenswood, are joining a host of celebrities in supporting the campaign, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Alan Carr and Kylie Minogue.

Stand Up To Cancer is a collaboration between Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK and will include a week of television programmes on cancer, culminating in a live fundraising spectacular on Friday, October 19.

Rochelle, a 26-year-old marketing assistant, said: “When I found out about Stand Up To Cancer I registered my support and offered to help straight away. I want everyone to do their bit so that no-one else has to experience what my sisters and I went through.

“Buying and wearing a Stand Up To Cancer wristband is a really easy way to join the fight and show your support for all the people diagnosed with this devastating disease in our region.”

The bands, priced �1, are available from TK Maxx, Tesco and Cancer Research UK stores.

Shirley, a former teacher at Ipswich High School for Girls and Southwold’s Saint Felix School, died in April, aged 56.

She had left her post at Ipswich High School for Girls after falling ill in November 2010 – symptoms that were thought to be from a mini-stroke. But further scans revealed a tumour and the positioning of the growth on the brain stem meant doctors could not operate.