The west Suffolk branch of a law firm has been recognised by a cancer charity after securing more than £300,000 worth of gifts from people choosing to leave a legacy in their will.

Ashtons Legal, based at Fornham St Martin, near Bury St Edmunds, has been presented with a bronze certificate from Cancer Research UK to acknowledge the company’s ongoing support.

The legal firm has been offering the Free Will Service to people aged 55 and over in Bury St Edmunds for the past three years.

Anyone who wishes to use the service is asked to consider leaving a legacy gift to Cancer Research UK but is under no obligation to do so.

The charity receives no government funding for its research and relies heavily on the generosity of people leaving gifts in their wills.

A legacy gift can be anything someone wishes to leave in their will. Traditionally this is money but it could be anything that has a monitory value like an estate or specific item.

Anything left to Cancer Research UK can be marked to be ring-fenced for research into a specific cancer type or research within a local area.

Clare Moore, director of legacies at Cancer Research UK, said: “We all reach a stage at some point in our lives where we start to look ahead and consider what will happen to our financial affairs in the future, when we may no longer be around.

“At Cancer Research UK, we work with a number of local solicitors, including Ashtons Legal in Bury St Edmunds, to offer local people aged 55 or over the chance to make an all-important first will or to update an existing one.

“The service has grown in popularity over the past couple of years and while it is provided free of any obligation, the vast majority of people choose to kindly leave a gift to the charity.

“By offering Cancer Research UK’s Free Will Service, Ashtons Legal have become well informed about our work and are very supportive of our life-saving research.

“Whenever their clients express a desire to support us, Ashtons Legal staff act with great sensitivity as they explain the various options and allow individuals or families to make the right choice in their own good time.

“It’s quite astonishing to think that by simply combining enthusiasm with the highest professional standards Ashtons Legal has helped secure over £300k’s worth of legacy gifts, which will go a long way towards helping our scientists, doctors and nurses to beat cancer sooner.”