A Lancaster charity is celebrating 40 years of helping local people and their families coping with cancer and bereavement.
Over many years, CancerCare, based on Slyne Road, has become essential to the support of local people coping with a cancer diagnosis or a bereavement.
The charity was founded back in 1983, starting from a weekly meeting in a Lancaster community centre, to now providing vital support for tens of thousands of people affected across North Lancashire and South Cumbria.
The charity was founded in 1983 by Professor Malcolm McIllmurray, a former cancer specialist who moved to the area to take up a role as a consultant at Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Westmorland General Hospital. His vision was to address a need for increased provision for cancer patients’ emotional and mental wellbeing and he began by offering support one night a week from a hired room at Ryelands House in Lancaster.
The idea began to grow and CancerCare was formally established by Professor McIllmurray and a group of like-minded professionals including nurses, GPs and hospital staff in 1983. Following a major fundraising campaign, the charity purchased its current home at Slynedales in 1989.
CancerCare then moved into Kendal, building on the success of a volunteer-led drop-in group and in 1998 a major appeal raised £250,000 to buy a former NHS clinic on Blackhall Road which is still the charity’s home in the town.
More recently the charity expanded into Barrow in 2017 and opened a new purpose renovated centre in the town’s Duke Street in 2020. We also launched dedicated services on Northumberland Street in Morecambe in 2021 to give people in the town easier access to support without the need to travel to Lancaster.
Since opening, the Slynedales Centre has provided help and support for more than 14,000 people and in the two years it has been running, the Morecambe Centre on Northumberland Street has provided more than 3,000 sessions of therapy for around 300 local people. The Kendal Centre has supported more than 6,000 people while the Barrow service has provided around 14,000 sessions of therapy from more than 1,000 clients.
As part of the occasion, the organisation opened their doors at Slynedales, welcoming faces, past, present, and new, to thanks everyone from the health care sector, government, local businesses and the general public for their support.
The event was attended by dignitaries including Lancaster MP, Cat Smith.
Chief Executive Alison Stainthorpe said: “2023 is a huge year for us as we celebrate forty years providing strength and compassion for people coping with the aftermath of a cancer diagnosis or bereavement, across north Lancashire and south Cumbria.
“From the first ever CancerCare therapy session in a room at a Lancaster community centre, here we are four decades later with four dedicated centres covering an area stretching from Morecambe to Barrow and with dozens of staff and therapists utterly committed to helping local people.
“It is incredible to see how we have grown from a simple idea of how to improve the mental health of cancer patients, to tens of thousands of men, women and children receiving life changing therapy. Thank you to everyone who has been with us and supported us on our journey.“
As part of the celebrations, they have also revamped their logo with a retro ‘80s design and installed special historical timeline displays, which chart the evolution of the organisation, in each of their four centres in Lancaster, Morecambe, Kendal and Barrow.
The charity has also been using the occasion to raise awareness of our services and launch a number of new fundraising campaigns and initiatives. One of the latest ones is the rearranged Colour Dash, taking place on Morecambe prom on Sunday, October 15.
Find out much more about the charity and you can either fundraise or get involved here
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