April Newsletter - Investing in our Volunteers

We'd like to introduce you to Alasdair 👋

Alasdair lives with advanced prostate cancer and continues to undergo treatment with hormone injections. Alasdair’s advice to other people affected by prostate cancer is "Be positive, ask for support, and talk to others." Alasdair has accessed Ayrshire Cancer Support’s services and said he’s had a very positive experience. He would highly recommend the 6 week Living Well with Prostate Cancer Course as a way to talk with others in similar positions and share experiences, as well as getting advice from professionals.

There are a number of services available for people affected by prostate cancer here at ACS, including access to all of our core services, a monthly prostate cancer peer group, the 6 week Living Well course that Alasdair mentions, and a brilliant 12 week exercise programme delivered by partnership between Prostate Scotland and the SPFL Trust at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock. For more information, see www.spfltrust.org.uk/prostateffit



Our Children and Young People Service is delighted to have received funding from The Outdoor Partnership Ayrshire to run an Easter activity group for young people aged 7+ that have been affected by, or bereaved from cancer. The group will take place on Thursday 11^th April from 10:45 until 2pm at Newmilns Snow and Sports Complex and includes: 1 hour of tubing, a 1 hour ski lesson, and lunch. Spaces are limited so email cyp@ayrshirecs.org or call 01563 538008 to secure your spot!



Gardening for Wellbeing

Are you affected by cancer and do you find gardening therapeutic? Alongside all of our core services, groups, courses and workshops, we’re partnering with Scottish charity Trellis to run gardening for wellbeing workshops in our Kilmarnock Centre.

Following the success of our Christmas Wreath Making workshops in December, we will run 4 workshops this year, in line with the seasons, and our Spring session will focus on "Edible Flowers and Quick Crops Seed Sowing." There are 10 spaces for this workshop on Tuesday 9^TH April 10am-12pm, and if you would like to attend, email us at admin@ayrshirecs.org, drop in, or give us a call.

If you can’t attend this one, or want to plan ahead for future sessions, you can find further details below:

Summer: Simple Summer Baskets - 4th June.

Autumn: Bulb Lasagne 17th September.

Winter: Easy Christmas Decorations - 26th November.

As well as the generous support from our local communities and businesses, we rely on funding from grant making organisations to meet our income targets each year.

In 2022, The Robertson Trust awarded Ayrshire Cancer Support £75,000 to support the delivery of our Children and Young Persons service for a period of 3 years. The final installment of this grant funding will be received in May and will contribute to the overall costs of meeting demand for this vital service during the year ahead.

We are very grateful for the continued support of the Robertson Trust which allows us to ensure that we can continue to deliver a range of support services and outreach activities for children and young people whose lives have been affected by cancer.