A long awaited honeymoon for our new friends

Tara Belcher, Founder and Tracy Wilkinson, Marketing Manager visiting the Cancer Welllbeing Centre in Peterborough

A very warm welcome awaits everyone at the Cancer Wellbeing Centre on the Peterborough City Hospital site. There is kindness and understanding that is at the heart of everything the friendly staff do – and the importance of their role cannot be over stated.

At The Robert Horrell Macmillan Centre on the 18th October we met Emily Parsons, Cancer Wellbeing Specialist Nurse and host of ‘The C Between Us’ group at the Cancer Wellbeing Service, a group that meets every Thursday morning. It is a service provided by the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust. In a cozy room, we joined eight people who come together to chat, share stories and talk openly and frankly about the cancer they are living with.

It’s clear that anything goes – well, nearly. What we mean is there are no ‘taboo’ topics because the aim is to be real, supportive and demonstrate a special comradery – one that’s given freely, openly and without asking for anything in return.

It is, we are sure, a life-line to many.

Can you imagine our pleasure when we offered everyone in that room – and their friends and network – a free break at Kingham Cottage? No catches, no terms and conditions, no penalty if you book but have to cancel – we know this can happen due to poor health.

There was an immediate understanding that a break with us at our cottage near the city of Bath would be an energy booster, an opportunity to have a break from the perpetual rounds of hospital visits and to create some memories of a very special kind. One of the couples we met filled in our short application form there and then and we are excited to welcome them to Kingham Cottage in the coming months. It will be their honeymoon that’s been ‘on hold’ since 2010. 

We will continue to work with Emily and hope to visit ‘The C between Us’ again and in the meantime they are helping us by sharing After Umbrage leaflets with their peers and signing up to our newsletter – the easiest way to share our news and updates because it’s electronic.

Together with the support of The Big Lottery Fund we are helping people have the break they deserve – honeymoon, holiday or weekend away.