Former Grantham Breast Cancer Support Group donates more than £30,000 to local groups and charities
A group which raised money for a cancer unit in Grantham has donated more than £30,000 to local causes.
Members of the former Grantham Breast Cancer Support Group raised the money to help set up and support the Emerald Suite breast cancer unit at Grantham Hospital which was launched in 2014.
But the unit soon ran into trouble and it was barely used just weeks after it opened, leaving tens of thousands of pounds raised by local people unused.
The Breast Cancer Support Group decided it was only right the money that had been raised and left unused should go back into the community.
Jackie and Arthur Whatley were among volunteers in 2015 to meet Grantham MP Nick Boles and hospital managers in a bid to try and get the Emerald Suite back up and running. They were told that difficulties in recruiting a radiologist was the main problem.
At the time Jackie said: “We deserve some answers. The people of Grantham have put so much into that unit. It’s a beautiful, beautiful suite, and it’s not used.”
At a presentation ceremony in St John’s church hall in Manthorpe on Tuesday (September 26), local charities and groups came together to receive donations from the support group. St Barnabas Hospice received £15,000 and the local St Barnabas Wellbeing Centre received £7,000.
A donation of £1,000 each was made to doctors’ surgeries at St Peter’s Hill, Market Cross, Stackyard, Vine Street, St John’s, Harrowby Lane and Swingbridge, and to the countywide Community Respiratory Service
Other causes received £200 each. They were Grantham Mencap Cree Centre and Fairview Farm, Grantham Leisure Support Group, Ayrshire House, and East Centre, Sleaford.
Arthur said: “The group has worked so hard with 100 per cent support from the Journal to raise the money but sadly promises from ULHT (United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust) never happened. So the group thought what can we do with the money.
“We thought let’s put it back into the community and that’s what we have done today. It’s money that was raised by the people of Grantham and surrounding areas so it’s best to actually put it back into the community.”
Jenny Hubbard, who was treasurer of the Breast Cancer Support Group, which started in the early 1990s, said it was “sad” that cancer patients are now having to travel to Lincoln and Boston for their treatment. She said patients at Grantham could have all their treatment in one place.
Jenny added: “We were all treated at Grantham and it was absolutely fabulous treatment. We couldn’t complain one iota. It’s such a shame they have lost it.”
Dr Michael Parkin, of St Peter’s Hill surgery, said he was “delighted” to receive the money on behalf of the surgery. He said: “It’s a real surprise as well and we are so grateful. It’s tinged with the sadness of losing the group who have done so much for people over the years.”
Dr Parkin said the money would be used to help those over-75 and those from deprived areas with cancer. “We want to find a way to use that money to get them to access the service, to publicise coming in to see us early. It’s those groups we need to try and get in and motivate them to come in early. As you know with breast cancer, if you can pick it up early, the outcome is so much better.”
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