Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts has revealed that, over the past year, the group have raised more than £1million in funds for breast cancer charities.
Much of the band’s activity this year has comprised their philanthropic efforts, raising money for breast cancer awareness and research organisation in honour of late member Sarah Harding. Harding died from the condition last September, after revealing her diagnosis to the public in August of 2020. She was 39, and posthumously contributed to breast cancer research efforts.
Appearing on BBC’s The One Show, Roberts explained that her surviving bandmates came out to support her appearance in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special. “It’s nice that we all do support each other in our individual things,” she said.
“I think this year we’d really spent a lot more time together, because we did a lot of fundraising efforts for breast cancer awareness, and to raise funds for different breast cancer charities on behalf of our bandmate Sarah.
“And so it was nice to kind of end the year on… Just something where we could just all get together, and it’s Christmas spirit – and actually, to end the year on such a positive note where we can now actually say that [through] all of the fundraising efforts that we did do, we’ve raised over £1million for breast cancer.”
Have a look at the interview snippet below:
"It was nice to end the year where we could all get together."
The Girls Aloud bandmates came to support @NicolaRoberts and raised loads of money for charity! 😍#TheOneShow 👉 https://t.co/OMUoCbi3pS pic.twitter.com/4JNdRwWown
— BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) December 20, 2022
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Among Girls Aloud’s recent charity endeavours was their involvement in the Race For Life For Sarah, a five-kilometre run hosted by Cancer Research UK. The group also released a special vinyl edition of their 2002 debut single, ‘Sound Of The Underground’, with all profits from the pressing going straight into The Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.
Back in April, too, Girls Aloud confirmed that they were planning a one-off reunion gig, doubling as a benefit concert, in Harding’s memory. At the time of writing, that is yet to formally materialise; prior to her death, Harding had reportedly “signed up” for a Girls Aloud reunion tour. Last September, though, Roberts linked up with Cheryl to perform a duet at the latter’s Mighty Hoopla festival set.
Roberts shared a stirring tribute to Harding upon the news of her death emerging, writing in a statement: “You made us. You gave it everything and still with a smile. A white butterfly flew past my window this morning before I knew, it must have been you.”
Meanwhile, Christmas Day this year saw Wargasm honour Girls Aloud with a raucous cover of their 2006 hit ‘Something Kinda Ooooh’.