Welcome to our monthly briefing. The information in this newsletter has been customised for you, our key group contacts, to use in your own newsletters and communications with your group members. We hope you find it useful.

As we hurtle towards the festive holidays and the New Year, we have all been very busy planning and preparing work for 2023.

• In March, we look forward to meeting many of you at our first face-to-face conference since 2019. If you haven’t already submitted an expression of interest in attending, please do so by completing this form
• We are planning campaigns around Prostate Cancer awareness and continuing to work on the Boys Need Bins campaign.
• We have welcomed new member groups this year in Huddersfield, Sutton Coldfield, Bradford and Wolverhampton and have supported a new exercise group in Worcestershire and a Group Counselling Peer Group in Buckinghamshire.
• Working with healthcare professionals, we are currently developing our offer across various localities.
• With the additional assistance of our Comms Specialist, Molly, we have reinvigorated our Social Media channels and relaunched Prostate Matters.
• Kelly our Admin Manager, has done a great job tidying up our Membership database, ensuring we are now compliant with our Articles and, more importantly, ensuring we have everyone’s correct contact information.  
• Our Fundraising Contractor, Ferha has worked hard contacting charitable trusts and foundations, and we have been successful in receiving funds for regional networking events. 
• Similar to our regular online Support Group Leaders meetings, but on a smaller regional scale, our regional networking events have paid dividends within the West Midlands, and thanks to these additional funds, we are currently looking to run more regional events in other regions across the country.  

None of this can happen without your help. As a federation, we all need to work together to make our objectives a reality, ensuring all people living with and affected by Prostate Cancer feel supported. If you would like to work with us, to run a regional event in your area or have ideas for an event for a specific community, then please let us know.  

Over the past year, I have been happy to shed last year’s COVID restrictions, to get out and meet many groups, delivering 34 presentations in the past 12 months. In the past month, I have visited Proactive Epping, Waterlooville PCaSO and Leeds PCSG. The photo above was taken at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on my way home from the Leeds group. At these groups, I have found many passionate and committed volunteers who are really committed to making a difference for people diagnosed with prostate cancer. 

I should like to say a HUGE thank you to you all for the hard work you do for your group members and the wider Prostate Cancer community. 

Wherever you are over the next few weeks, and whatever you are doing, please take time to reflect on the amazing work we are all doing.

Sending you sincere wishes for a peaceful and joyful festive holiday and a healthy and happy 2023. 

December Support Group Leaders Meeting

Our December Support Group Leaders meeting coincided with both the quarterly Tackle Trustee/Directors meeting and our Christmas Team meal. We are grateful to Prostate Cancer UK for letting us use one of their meeting rooms, which was why Aidan and I were on screen together, as opposed to in our own offices. 

To make the most of the season, we organised a Festive Quiz, and people came dressed in Christmas Jumpers, hats and, in my case, a fetching Christmas Tree headband!  Alas, by the time I remembered to take a photo, most of the leaders had already left the meeting.

Nonetheless, you can see why both Gene and Rob were commended for the efforts they had made in their outfits. Simon from Metro Walnut won the Festive Quiz by quite a large margin. Congratulations Simon!  

As well as the fun stuff, we also discussed the serious topic of ensuring groups had effective committees and Trustees. As we look to recruit new Trustees for Tackle, this seemed like an ideal opportunity for us to share what we have learnt about the best approach to take. 

The slide set from the meeting can be found here.

After discussion with several Group Leaders, and in recognition that many volunteers work full time and therefore find attending daytime meetings tricky, in 2023, we shall trial evening meetings. 

Our January 2023 meeting will take place from 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm on January 3rd 2023. We hope to see you there. 

Hot Topics 

One of the outputs from the Support Group Leaders meetings that you have told us is useful is our regular Hot Topics section. This slide set can be directly shared with your group members. 

This month’s Hot Topics can be found by clicking here. 

Awareness Raising 

We know that many of our member groups run Prostate Cancer awareness and PSA Blood testing events. Above are members from TPSA (Torbay), who held an event which saw over 300 people through the door. TPSA used the C-Cards we produced last year, personalising them with a label advertising their own group. 
The majority of groups who run PSA Blood Testing events use our partner, the Graham Fulford Trust to run the online booking. You can find a list of upcoming events here.

If you would like to order some C-Cards, please let us know. We can supply you with a template to personalise the cards for your group. 

Boys Need Bins Campaign

At the end of November, myself, Steve and our former Chair, Ken, were all invited to the APPG (All Parliamentary Group) on Bladder and Bowel Care at the House of Commons. We went as part of the Boys Need Bins campaign.

The APPG support this important campaign and is working with us and our partners, such as PCUK, to promote the campaign.  It was a really positive afternoon. We heard from many people about all sorts of topics around bladder and bowel continence. Most importantly we heard from Jonathon Hall, who is a man living with Prostate Cancer. Jonathon spoke movingly about his own experience, which really engaged people in the room about the issues of the lack of provision for bins in men’s cubicles. 

If you would like to share your experience, please do get in touch. 

To view the full monthly briefing click here