This has been overall another successful year and thanks are due to all our volunteers. We have been saddened by the sudden death of Dave McKenna. A number of us attended his funeral and gave condolences to his wife, Anne. The financial position had been good and will be detailed at the AGM. We are especially grateful for a significant donation from a patient.
• We held an Evening of Magic and Music in Middlesbrough in the summer. This was well-attended, but expenses were quite high and the profit was not commensurate with the amount of work put into the event. Thank are given to Jim Thompson for his help in organising this event and in selling tickets.
• The Mars Inn at Loftus, and volunteer Michael Partlett, continue to give us tremendous support, with funding from the inn’s lottery machine and an evening of entertainment on boxing day which raised £750.
• £155 was raised from a coffee morning in Stokesley and a further £40 from a coffee morning in Guisborough. We are grateful to Ann Elliott and Janet Fall for organising these.
• We appreciate the efforts of those who do sponsored events for us. In particular, this year, we thank Ray Gregory and his daughter Rachel. Rachel ran in the Great North Run.
• An information stand at ASDA Portrack, staffed by Ann, Pam and Janet, attracted a lot of interest and was worthwhile. Equally, we attended very useful events in Stockton High Street and The Destiny Centre, Norton, organised by Catalyst, Stockton. This organisation, which networks voluntary and community groups in Stockton, has helped us raise our profile in the area and link to professional groups via their regular newsletter. We were pleased to meet a potential new volunteer, Peter, and hope he will continue to support us. We are also grateful to another patient, Chris R for his story for our website.
• Our website has been upgraded this year and regularly updated. Thanks to Emma Fall, tweets have been sent out regularly.
• We have linked with some health service staff including the Cancer Community Development staff for Hartlepool, North Tees and Darlington and Oral Health Promotion staff for Teesside and for Co. Durham & Darlington.
• New thank-you cards and Christmas cards have been produced and our leaflet stock and other resources kept up to date. We continue to have a large supply of cotton shopping bags to sell.
• During November, independent pharmacies around the area received and used medication bags bearing our information.
• Shane and a former patient (Tony O) were involved in a high profile media campaign run by regional anti-smoking group FRESH.