A RARE demo tape of Glasgow band Camera Obscura is raising hundreds of pounds at auction for a leading cancer charity.

The modest-looking cassette tape was produced on a four track recorder 18 years ago in bass player Gavin Dunbar's cellar. It has since been placed up for auction by a fan, on bidding site eBay. Dozens of bids have so far reached £450, with the auction ending on Monday October 26. Funds raised will go to charity Sarcoma UK. It comes almost two weeks since the indie pop band announced that its singer and keyboardist, Carey Lander, had lost her battle with the cancer.

Carey, who joined the band in 2002, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma – a rare type of bone cancer – in 2011 and had begun her own campaign via JustGiving in August to raise £50,000 to fund research into the illness.

That target has now been smashed, with almost £70,000 being raised for Sarcoma UK.

It's thought that only 20 of the demo tapes were made, with most of them being given to influential DJs of the time, including Peter Easton of BBC Radio Scotland's Beat Patrol - a Scottish indie music show of the 1990s - and the legendary DJ John Peel.

Gavin said: "We're happy to see such an old curiosity surface now to help raise money for Carey's campaign. We're really proud of how Carey managed to raise so much money for such an important cause in her final weeks, so we want to keep promoting the campaign in her memory.

"The demo is a real blast from the past. We must have made 10-20 at the most. We sent them off to a handful of folk like Peter Easton at Beat Patrol on Radio Scotland, and John Peel too. Just very basic demo's recorded on four track in my parent's cellar many years ago. I've not heard these since we recorded them in 1997, hopefully they retain a bit of charm."

When she launched the fund-raising campaigning, Carey wrote on her JustGiving page: "It's probably too late to help me but it would be great if we could find something in the future that means children don't have to undergo such awful treatment and have a better chance of survival."

Originally from Maidstone, Kent, Carey moved to Glasgow when she finished school at 18 due to the appeal of the city's music scene. She became friends with a few of Camera Obscura's members. She joined the band following the departure of previous keyboardist Lindsay Boyd, and she contributed organ, piano, and backing vocals to every album since 2003’s Underachievers Please Try Harder.