Hundreds of boobie hats and their owners will march through the town this Saturday for a breast cancer campaign with a difference.

The Valentine’s Day flash mob will start at Tesco in Saffron Walden, where a woman suffering from breast cancer was called a “sick freak” for wearing the awareness-raising headwear just a few weeks ago.

After the woman wrote a letter in response to this attack, the solidarity shown for her has grown into a national cancer awareness movement which has seen a frenzy of knitting explode all over the country.

On Saturday, the march will proceed from Tesco on Radwinter Road to Market Square, with the 500 attendees singing Paul McCartney’s ‘We All Stand Together’, re-worked for the occasion by Sam Smith’s former teacher, jazz sensation Joanna Eden.

Saffron Walden Town Football Club (SWTFC) has also got on board, and is offering free entry to the Saturday game against Stowmarket to anyone sporting a boobie hat, as well as collecting donations for their chosen charity, Teenage Cancer Trust, and Cancer Research UK.

“Cancer is one of those illnesses that touches everyone, everyone has somebody they know who has cancer,” ‘The Bloods’ vice chairman Ken Vincent told the Reporter.

“Reading the articles about what happened to that lady, I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t be moved by her story.”

Andrew Green, a board member at SWTFC, is also having his head shaved for cancer charities this Friday, and has raised hundreds of pounds already.

The campaign has sparked great interest from the national media, with an ITV crew appearing in town yesterday (Wednesday) to capture the infectious enthusiasm for a campaign which has grown far beyond a show of support for one woman.

Closer to home, the Reporter has been supporting the campaign by acting as a drop-off and collection point for the hats, with donations for them going towards a new ultrasound scanner for Addenbrooke’s Cambridge Breast Unit.

The flash mob meets at 2.30pm this Saturday, February 14 outside Tesco on Radwinter Road. Everyone is welcome to attend and encouraged to sport a boobie hat, which can be collected from the Reporter office at 54 High Street, Little Minke or ordered from Bondara on Shire Hill. Kick off for the Saffron Walden vs Stowmarket game is at 3pm at the Catons Lane grounds.

To find out more, join the Booby Hat Flash Mob event and the Boobiebellion page on Facebook.