HOSPITAL staff opted for the over-the-top look during a national awareness and fundraising campaign.

Workers at the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, donned the loudest and silliest ties in their wardrobes to help the charity Beating Bowel Cancer raise funds.

A collection round the hospital by specialist nurses Joan Thirkell and Paul Wheatley and secretary Val Oliver raised more than £300.

Bowel cancer is the UK's second biggest cancer killer. This year, 35,500 people will be diagnosed with the disease and half will die.

Yet it is one of the most curable of all cancers if caught and treated in time.

Many people are still unaware of the symptoms of the disease, or are too embarrassed to discuss them.