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.
So far this month, I have visited two of the Peer Support Groups in our Federation – Eastbourne PCaSO and Derby PCSG.
Steve and I both attended the Derby PCSG which is run by Kathy Keegan-O’Kane a Clinical Nurse Specialist from the University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Trust. It was really good to talk with many people from around the 60 people who attended.
At Eastbourne, I met with several group members and their hardworking Group Leaders, Debbie and Chris. Debbie started the group following her experiences of supporting her own father with Prostate Cancer in the early 2000s.
Our Support Group Leaders meeting continues to attract new members which is positive. If you haven’t yet managed to get to one, then please see further down this briefing for details of the next one in December.
At our November meeting, we heard from Lisa Curtis from Look Good Feel Better, which is a charity providing all sorts of opportunities for people living with cancer. Lisa wanted to know from our Group Leaders how her services could attract more men.
Following the meeting, several Group leaders have contacted Lisa to ask her to attend their own groups, and we are also working with them to deliver some online sessions in 2023 for Mindfulness, Skin and Grooming, and Body Confidence. Watch this space for dates etc.
The slides that we shared at our November meeting can be found here and contain Lisa’s contact details should you wish to contact her about attending your own groups.
If you would like me or any of our Directors to come and speak to your group, either face to face or on Zoom, please do get in touch with me at sarah.gray@tackleprostate.org
Annual Conference / AGM 2023
Together We Tackle: Building Collaborative Partnerships to reach and support people living with Prostate Cancer
Invitations will shortly be going out for our 2023 AGM and Conference. It will be held on Thursday March 16th at The Burlington Hotel, Birmingham, just across the road from New Street station. We thought the centrally located venue would be ideal for our Group Leaders travelling from across the country.
Further details will be sent out with the invitation. We would love to hear from you if you have any ideas or would like to support us with planning the conference.
A Message from Steve Allen
It has been almost a year since I became the Acting Chair of Tackle Prostate Cancer. During this time, myself, Board Directors and Sarah have worked extremely hard to carry on the excellent work started by former chair Ken Mastris with operationalising the three-year strategy.
The strategy is essential to make the most of the funding we have received from the National Lottery. We want to support our existing groups, as well as encourage the setup of new support groups and reach more people living with and affected by Prostate Cancer.
Over the past 10 months, we have successfully launched our new website, relaunched Prostate Matters, increased our engagement with healthcare professionals, started a series of regional Network Meetings, as well as run a successful Peer Coaching workshop.
Our Support Group Monthly meetings continue to encourage participation from Group Leaders. On governance matters, we have completed our data cleanse and are now compliant with our membership database, we have submitted our annual report and accounts. I could go on, I am incredibly proud of what a small committed group of volunteers and one staff member with a shared vision have achieved.
We all share our vision to enable the growth of peer support groups across the country, ensuring the needs of people living with and affected by prostate cancer are met and their voices are heard.
No matter how committed one may be to this ambition, a small group of volunteer directors, one full-time employee, and a couple of hourly paid support roles, it is never going to be an easy task. This shared vision, along with energy, commitment, passion, determination and time are all essential components of being a director for Tackle Prostate Cancer. I have the first four of these components, unfortunately, what I don’t have is the time to commit in the way I feel is necessary.
When I took on the role of acting Chairman, I don’t think I appreciated the huge amount of work needed to achieve the aims we told the National Lottery we would meet, let alone the complexities of running a charity with a very small team.
I am in awe of those who came before me. I made it clear that this was to be reviewed before the next AGM and it should not be assumed that I took on the role permanently. The bottom line is that, with a very heavy heart, I wish to inform our members that I will not be putting myself up for election as Chairman at the next AGM.
These past 5 months have been personally not easy for me in many ways. Long Covid and progressive osteoarthritic problems have had a significant impact (both physically and psychologically) on my wife, Sylvia, and in turn on myself.
This has led to significant changes in our lifestyle and the various roles that we both play within the organisation of our household. I have had to reconsider many of the things I currently do in my life and have already had to reduce some of the work I do with my church and elsewhere.
I am totally committed to Tackle and will indeed stay on the Board as a Director and to continue working as hard as ever in many ways, particularly in my role as Patient Representative. There will be vacancies on the board of directors, and we will be informing you of how to apply should you wish in due course.
Social Media Workshop – Last Minute Reminder
At our September Support Group Network Meeting our Communication Specialist Molly, led a session on how we can use stories and social media channels to promote your groups and services.
Many Group Leaders were keen to learn more, therefore, we have arranged for Molly to run a dedicated workshop.
The workshop will be run on Zoom on Wednesday 16th November from 7.00 pm-8.00 pm
It would be great to see you there.
The meeting will be hosted by Tackle and run by Sarah and Molly
Please direct questions via email to Sarah.
Zoom details can be accessed by clicking the button below or by following this link.
December Support Group Leaders Network Meeting
If you have not attended one of our monthly Support Group Leaders meetings, then please consider joining our next one. We will be talking about the importance of diversity in teams. And because it is the last meeting of 2022, we shall be having an end-of-year quiz and a bit of a festive Christmas celebration. So, if you fancy, do come dressed in your Christmas jumpers!
The next meeting is on Tuesday December 6th from 11.00-12.30 pm.
You can go straight to the meeting by clicking here.
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 month’s Hot Topics can be found here.
