In line with the spirit of our “Forward thinking” campaign, we supported two major events in 2006 with the shared vision of a future free from the fear of breast cancer.

In seven cities across Canada last summer, we were national sponsors of “The Weekend to End Breast Cancer”, which saw thousands of people take part in fundraising walks. We sponsored a “pit stop” in each city – designated places along the 60km course where walkers could rest briefly during their trek. The stops were staffed by Aviva volunteers, friends and family, and £27 million was raised in total by the event.

In the UK in September, we were title sponsor of the Aviva Weekend to Breakthrough Breast Cancer. In London and Birmingham, more than 2,000 walkers raised a total of £5.3 million from the two events. Our staff were among the hundreds of volunteers who gave their time to help with tents, serve meals and distribute water and goodie bags to the walkers.

It was very gratifying that so much money was raised by these events on both sides of the Atlantic to help fund research into ways of combating breast cancer.