Chris (Darragh) and I met another lady last week and we've fixed the date and time of the first meeting of the SE Wales Ovarian Cancer Support Group.
The meetings will take place on the last Wednesday of every month at Churchills Hotel, Cardiff at 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Our first meeting will be an informal coffee and chat to find out what women want from a support group. Hopefully we'll be setting up a mixed programme of monthly meetings including informal sessions and lunch meetings for women with Ovarian Cancer, and meetings with guest speakers or activities for members, families and friends.
It was a great help to have Angela advising us. She isn't a member of Ovacome and doesn't have access to a computer or email. It made us all the more determined to set up a series of meetings as a complement to the HealthUnlocked site for women who feel more confident with face-to-face contact. Angela has great contacts with the local press so we're hoping we can draw on her expertise to raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer through the local media, we're looking to develop fundraising ideas, and at the heart of it all, we're looking forward to developing new friendships.
Our first meeting will be:
11:00 - 12:30 - Wednesday 27 March 2013
Churchills Hotel, Cardiff Road, Cardiff, CF5 2AE
If you know anyone in this area with Ovarian Cancer please pass on these details.
xx Annie
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Annie, Just want to say good luck with this fantastic venture! Wish there was something like this near to me. I attended a great place just after my opinion but it was attended by all and I found it very hard to talk about my OC as I felt it was very intimate to talk to both men and women about my private bits he he.
Am sure this will help great fun and a great support for you all in gorgeous Wales.
there is nothing in this area for OC so Annies venture is long overdue. Maybe you could start something in your area.
I wouldn't feel comfortable discussing the personal things that OC throws up in a mixed group. This I think why women with OC can sometimes feel very isolated.
I think the first thing to do is to find a like-minded person to share the work of setting up a support group. I was so lucky to meet up with Chris who's bursting with ideas and is a great complement to me. I was bogged down trying to find the 'ideal' venue and 'perfect' artwork - Chris is a motivator and finisher. Hopefully we'll meet more ladies to join the organising group because you really can't rely on just a couple of women in this game. We need succession planning already! lol
I've just noticed Chris's comment. It's worth doing a search of people living near you on the HealthUnlocked site and contacting them to see if they're up for getting something together. I think the nearest support group to you would be:
Cherry Lodge Cancer Care
Type of group: Ovarian cancer
Meetings: Wednesdays 7.30p-9pm, every 6 weeks.Next dates 2013 9th January, 20th February and 3rd April
Where: 23 Union St, Barnet EN5 4HY
Contact: Fiona Kiddle 020 8441 7000 or fiona@cherrylodgecancercare.org.uk
This group is listed in the Ovacome Resources from the main page - Support Groups.
I really hope you find some convivial company. An alternative would be to join Ovacome at Members' Day on Saturday 18 May. Some of us are meeting up the evening before and staying overnight in Euston. If you want to get involved in that you'd need to book the Members' Day, and give me a shout to join the Friday Brigade.
Hi! Sheila, I am assuming you live in Scotland with your 'Scottish Misty'. I too am looking for a local group of ladies with Ovarian cancer but have had no joy. Where do you live? I am in Glasgow G73 area which is in Rutherglen & I attend Stobhill Hospital. We have a new Professor McNeish in the team now & I noticed in the latest Ovacome magazine that he is giving a talk in London in May. If you live in & around Glasgow I would love to meet up with you. If we could reach out to others in Glasgow I would be willing to have meetings at my premises. I don't know about you, but any clinics I have attended, including the Beatson they are always full of ladies & there has to be people out there who would like to join a group.
I'll give you my email address & if interested please contact me.
Hope you are keeping well at the moment as I am & look forward to possibly hearing from you. iriskerr77@ntlworld.com
Hi Annie Actually,
Just sending you my very best wishes for your forthcoming events, I love your logo it looks great. Love x G x
tee hee, I pinched the logo off the internet!! Thanks for the good wishes. We're just hoping some women come along or we'll be like Billy-no-friends on 27 March! xx
wow, that would be fantastic if you could come over from Neath for one of our meetings. The April one will be on Wednesday 23 April.
I'm already hatching a plan for one of our guest speaker sessions at some time in the future - yoga advice? I could get my friend down to demonstrate for you??!!! cheeky me thinking of that!
well, perhaps we could book you in for a session later in the year. We'll have to get together a programme so we can let everyone know whether it's a coffee meeting, a lunch meeting, or an information/activity meeting and whether husbands, family, friends, etc are included too.
Such a lot to think of. I'm off to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations in Cardiff later to ask some advice on setting up a voluntary group. I'm feeling a bit terrified right now!
It's a great idea! My local support group always ends with relaxation session, sitting on our chairs, eyes closed, sometimes relaxation and sometimes visualisation. All run by a local yoga teacher who does relaxation with patients at the hospital. It really ends the session on a lovely calm note. All the very best, Annie ....and well done! A great idea! Just pace yourself though
Thanks Wendy. Given you're a two centre girl you might call in to our Cardiff Group. We could really benefit from any advice and tips.
Jean mentioned visualisation. It's a great idea. I always do too much and think too little. xxx love Annie
Exciting times, can't wait. Seems to have been a long time in the pipeline and now we are almost there.
We hope that any ladies in our area (or beyond) will join us.
Well done Annie, hopefully the flyers will be ready for Thurs, note to self 'check emails more regularly' the design is just what we were looking for xx
Thanks Chris. You're too kind about the poster design but it's a new skill for me to learn. Better to get the flyers out there than worry too much about fantastic artwork.
All thanks to you for your chivvying!!! lots of love Annie xxx
I found the teal ribbon logo after a massive haul on the internet. I was really pleased with it as it does seem to sum it all up. I've just tried to find the url for you but can't seem to find the page. Luckily I've copied the logo to my laptop so if anyone wants to use it please just message me with an email address and I'll send a copy.
Yes! What a great idea. We could get t-shirts, polo shirts or hoodies printed. It can be done very easily from the .jpeg file I have on my computer and I have a great contact who could do this in Penarth.
They might sell well. I'm thinking you're on to one of your fundraising ideas Chris!!!!
That's a great start with a contact. We could have a bundle ready for May and sell them then LOL. We'll be going to London like a couple of bag ladies, with loads of merchandise to flog.
Sheila did have a valid point about copyright. Don't want all our hard funds being eaten up in legal wrangling.
Flyers and posters...work in progress as they say.
I've emailed a woman who is selling t-shirt with this very logo. It seems to have been developed in the US or Canada and I can't trace any information about royalties. Hopefully she'll be able to shed some light on this and whether we need to pay to use it. The image on this blog is copied from a royalty-free site but we'd need to be sure before we use it for any other purpose. xxxx
Annie, Thanks for the info. This is actually the place I went to but during the day. Have to say it is a fabulous place but just too far for me to travel on public transport in evenings.
I would tell anyone in the Barnet area to use the facilities - massage, reflexology, reiki etc and all free.
Have to say also love your logo but hate to put slight dampener on it but have you checked copyright? I am assuming you have Annie and look forward to reading how things go on your first meeting.
It's taken me a while to track down a supplier of clothes and other items with the 'Teal Ribbon of Words' logo. This site can supply black hoodies with the ribbon of words logo.
Thanks for code red!! I've ordered my hoodie for the coffee morning I am going to have in March.
I was contacted recently by someone else on this site recently who lives near me but haven't heard from her since: I was hoping she would get involved with the event and she said she was keen to start a support group too, so........
Don't hold back Anne - get in touch to see if your contact can help out at your event. I've become very bold of late and take the view if you don't ask you don't get. I'm a starter but not a finisher so I'm wholly dependent on the members who like to get involved. It's a group effort.
Chris and I are also buying t-shirts and hoodies. We really ought to look into a bulk deal.
I'm sure if we started a blog asking if anyone wanted to order the t-shirts and we got an order of 20 or more we'd get a discount. They're actually very reasonably priced at £19 for a t-shirt. I've just had another code to get 15% off the price of the next order.
If anyone wants a t-shirt please let me know! xxxx
Spurred on by your example Chris and I have just ordered a Teal Ribbon of Words t-shirt and hoodie each. We'll be like the terrible twins in our matching outfits!!!!
Hi Annie, I will certainly drop in if our dates coincide! Love to. You have some great ideas on here. I will be looking into the hoodie too. Anne, where are you? I don't think you're too far from me... Or am I remembering wrongly? Put it down to another CRAFT moment
Will be in Swansea tomorrow, Neath yesterday, Llandeilo today, so yes, I'm a local part-timer! Good luck with the Welsh venture! Or should I say pob lwck
Can't believe you were in Neath yesterday. Me too - meeting up with Jean at her Curves Gym who are doing some fundraising for Ovacome in March. What a shame we didn't get together!
I'm in Cardiff, Pontcanna. 10 mins walk from the Rugby Stadium - so there's no excuse not to meet up!!!!! love Annie xxx
Wow! It sound really exciting, all the work you're doing, setting up the support group. I was at La Mancha from 11-30 till 4, just down the road from Curves. I met up with three college friends, two of whom I hadn't seen for 42 years! Talk? Don't ask!!!! It was really fab. A reunion for all 10 of us planned, naturally......
Gill!!!!! Are you back, or are you posting from the water hole? Back home with a bump I guess. I do hope you had a holiday of a lifetime and I'm so pleased to think you're back home safely. I hope you'll post a blog on your holiday experiences. You're such an example to us all not letting this disease close in your horizons.
It would be really helpful to share ideas. I've booked a meeting with our local National Council for Voluntary Organisations to see if I can get some advice on setting up a voluntary organisation. Our initial thought was monthly meetings - some for women only and others with activities or talks open to members, friends, family, etc. We're starting with an informal coffee meeting, and have chosen a venue that can provide lunch at a reasonable cost if we agree to hold a lunch meeting every third month. Just finding the right venue seemed to be an uphill battle ... but here we are ... posters and leaflets being distributed at our local cancer centre today and posters have gone up in pharmacies and other community areas. Strangely my GP surgery refused to put up a flyer!!! ??
Perhaps we could organise a visit to each other's support session once they're established?
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