Maureen Lipman went out to bat for myeloma sufferers at a Lord's reception.

At the event, MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw - who was diagnosed with myeloma in 2008 - announced plans for a September fundraiser for research into the bone marrow cancer.

Its centrepiece will be a game between a celebrity cricket side and a team of past and present football stars assembled by former Newcastle boss Joe Kinnear.

Repaying charity's Caring gesture

Dietician Anneka Gershon, 25, raised a healthy £2,200 for Jewish Care in her second marathon, inspired by a family connection.

Her grandmother is a resident in the charity's Lady Sarah Cohen House in East Finchley.

"I found this marathon harder than last year," she confided. "I struggled with my training due to a knee injury.

"But I was determined not to give up due to the great stuff Jewish Care does for my nana and the Jewish community as a whole and the support I received from my family and friends."

It was during the summer of 2005 that 21-year-old Pinner resident Jonny Fraser drowned while trying to save a friend. The active Reform Synagogue Youth member had completed his second year of a politics, philosophy and economics degree at Oxford University when he embarked on the three-week lone trip around India.

Christian Aid has apologised after its UK-based online youth magazine published an article calling Israel an “apartheid state”.

The article, published on the website Ctrl.Alt.Shift and entitled Young Blood: Peres — War Criminal and Proud, attacked Israeli president Shimon Peres as a “war criminal” and called Zionism a “racist ideology”.

Published on Holocaust Memorial Day last week, the article placed images of dead Jews in concentration camps next to images of dead Palestinians.

In Washington, the main Jewish communal body, the Federation, suffered two financial hits in recent years: once through the economic downturn and another through Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. But despite a 15 per cent drop in income, the community hardly felt a decline in services. The organisation cut salaries by 10 per cent and switched to a four-day work week.

“It’s a very challenging time, but we are finding creative ways to cope,” said the Federation’s CEO, Misha Galperin.

A charity providing 14,000 hot meals daily at soup kitchens and schools throughout Israel enjoyed a successful dinner of its own at the Millennium Mayfair on Monday.

Hazon Yeshaya raised £500,000 from the event, attended by 430 supporters.

Making the appeal, Cyril Dennis highlighted a recent Israeli government report which found that 28 per cent of Israel’s population lived below the poverty line. This figure included over 600,000 children.

Charity founder Abraham Israel was among the guests.