THIS September is Women and Heart Disease Awareness Month at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and I’m writing to ask your readers to help fund vital research into heart disease by taking part our in Bag It, Beat It campaign.

Around 28,000 women die from a heart attack each year in the UK – that’s three every hour. But surveys have shown that women are less likely than men to recognise the symptoms of a heart attack and seek help.

I’ve donated to my local shop and I’d encourage all your readers to get involved this September and do the same. Simply fill a bag with unwanted clothes, shoes, books, handbags, DVDs, CDs, bric-a-brac and children’s toys, to Bag It, Beat It.

All donations will help the BHF to fund life-saving heart research.

It is a sad reality that coronary heart disease is the single biggest killer in the UK, causing the deaths of more than 4,200 people in Wales each year, more than 1,700 of which are women, but with the continued support of the local community the BHF can fight harder to reduce this figure.

For more information and to find your local BHF shop, visit bhf.org.uk/bagit or to book a free collection call 0808 250 0024.

It’s a wonderful way to declutter and save lives.

Dame Esther Rantzen

British Heart Foundation supporter