Well, we made it through another year of masks, vaccines and restrictions. I am not sure any of us thought we would still be sitting in this position this time last year. The mere thought of it would have quite possibly tipped us all over the edge. But we did it! And quite frankly...
we should ALL be applauded for doing so. Whilst our service is not completely as it was before, we really believe that we have progressed and evolved to present the best level of support we can for our patients at this time. Our online courses and classes that we implemented during the first lockdown still continue to run alongside our face to face services. This has shown us that there is a real desire for this kind of online presence from the Fountain Centre. And it only took a pandemic to get us there! With all joking aside, we could not be more proud or humbled for all of the support we have received from our patients and staff this past year. Some might say that this year may have been tougher than last year, in many regards. Here's hoping 2022 brings all the sunshine and light that we missed over the last two years. Whatever happens we will continue to move forward and always have our patients at the forefront of everything that we do.
From our homes to yours, wishing you all a very Happy New Year.
It has been 18 months since the start of the Pandemic and the Fountain Centre, like many other charity organisations, has been severely affected by this. Initially we needed to shut our doors to protect our patients and reduce the risk but slowly we have managed to reopen whilst adapting and adopting to new ways of working to continue to provide support for local cancer patients and their families.
We are now able to welcome back our visitors to the Fountain Centre whilst continuing to provide on line and virtual services for those who are unable or do not want to access face to face support. We have worked closely with the hospital making ...
sure volunteers and staff are kept as safe as possible by continuing to follow social distancing, mask wearing, hand hygiene and regular testing for everyone.
Over the last 18 months we have seen first-hand the impact of COVID on cancer. The challenges and fear faced every day by patients accessing diagnostics, treatment or learning to live with and beyond their diagnosis. The uncertainty around what will happen next and the isolation caused by this virus is heard every day and although we cannot solve these problems we continue to increase the amount of services available to support patients live as well as possible.
We have listened to our patients and carers and looked at different ways of supporting them. We have created on line support groups, developed virtual psychological support as well as creating a social media, website and YouTube channel to help communicate with local people on services and support available.
Moving forward we are excited to continue to develop new services and support for our existing and new cancer patients. We have recently employed an Occupational Therapist who will work with Royal Surrey and St Luke’s Cancer Centre to develop specific services to support patients to meet their functional potential and we have developed a partnership with the local Citizen Advice service and will be offering benefits advice by the end of the year. We are also looking at new and innovative ways of sharing information with our patients. Accessing reliable information at the right time in the right way is important and we want to provide patients with the ability to find appropriate information and support when it suits them. Watch this space for more news.
Anne Pike Head of Fountain Centre
Fountain Centre Christmas Cards
Still need to buy your Christmas cards! We have almost run out of cards online already this year!...
So if you still need to buy your cards, contact us directly at the Fountain Centre as well still have a secret supply!!!
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New Cabin Opening
We welcomed our patron Flavia Cacace-Mistry this week to open our new family and... children's cabin. The former Strictly Come Dancing star took centre stage to praise the
Fountain Centre for providing a beautiful, welcoming space for children whose parents have been diagnosed
with cancer. Thanks to generous support from the Luigi Francescon Trust and Nordicroom Ltd, a garden building
company, we now have an ideal venue for our busy family support service. Since the service launched in 2016, it has
helped over 800 youngsters by providing counselling and a safe space to discuss worries and fears.
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ROBIN IS LEAVING
One of our longest serving Volunteers, Robin Burby, has left us after 14 years of volunteering at the centre. Robin said “I'm really sad to be leaving all of you lovely people and of course our dear patients. Over the years there have been
...many changes to the Fountain Centre, but consistently the message has always been clear, helping those going through a really difficult time with our amazing complementary and holistic treatments. Sometimes I forgot what a difference we achieved and then I'd get my heart broken by the next patient who can't express enough their gratitude. The team and services offered is awesome and I'll miss being there very much.”
The feeling is entirely mutual from all members of the team and we wish Robin all the best.
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Are you on social media? Do you have a Facebook page or Instagram? Do you tweet? If so, you can help the Fountain Centre without spending a penny or more than 2 seconds of your time.
All we ask is that you follow and like our pages and profiles on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter (or all three if you can!) Then just like and share our posts.
To be reading this you are probably already a newsletter subscriber, now all we need you to do is share our information with friends and family.
How does this help us? It raises our profile. Your friends and family, and indeed friends of friends will see our posts and understand the services we offer. Should any one of them need our services, they know where to...
come, instead of worrying about where to get help. It also helps us secure funding and sponsorship from corporate companies – it’s much easier to be chosen as ‘charity of the year’ by a corporate company if you have a high profile on social media.
On Facebook you can earn a ‘top fan’ badge for liking and sharing our content and we would love to have lots of those!
To be a dedicated social media supporter of the Fountain Centre you could set notifications, so you know immediately when we make a post – and be the first to like and share.
For those of you who are confident on social media we would love it if you added comments to our posts – or comment to your followers when you share.
Every time you share one of our social media posts you help get the Fountain Centre name known to somebody new and help grow our online presence.
This is so important to us as we frequently post about our services and fundraising needs and direct people to our website – we want everyone to know that we are here to help and how we can help and where they can find us.
You too can play your part – just like, share and comment – just two seconds could help us so much.
Diana Roberts
Diana Roberts has been a Fountain Centre Trustee for just over 7 years. With a background in marketing, PR and Social Media, she works closely with the Fundraising and Comms Team – and has also been known to knit a chick or two.
Diana Roberts Fountain Centre Trustee
Brian’s virtual walk
The last 18 plus months has seen a new type of fundraising. A whole new world of virtual fundraising has opened up. You no longer have to actually be in the physical location to complete a challenge, you can simply download an... app and off you go.
This is exactly what Brian from The Keep Pub did. He decided to set himself a challenge of walking from Lands End to John O’Groats but from the comfort of his own back yard in Guildford. So that’s what he did! He walked all around the area clocking up the miles and raising a fantastic amount of money for us in the process.
We caught up with Brian after he had finished and asked him a few questions about why he decided to set this challenge for himself.
Brian tell us about yourself?
I have lived and worked in Guildford for most of my life and would like to think that I know the Town and surrounding area very well. I am currently the landlord at The Keep public house in Castle St, Guildford, and am now into my 15th year of trading here.
What 3 words best describe you?
Adventurous, Reliable, Loyal.
What made you decide to do a fundraiser for the Fountain Centre?
I wanted to do something for a local charity and having recently had family and friends who had received the excellent care from the Fountain Centre, it was an obvious choice.
Why a walking challenge?
I have always enjoyed getting out and walking as it improves both physical and mental health, this was even more so important through the lockdowns due to the pandemic and so I thought I would set myself the challenge of walking the equivalent distance of Lands End to John O’Groats
What would you say to people to encourage then to set themselves a challenge?
Just do it! We all face challenges big and small throughout our lives so it’s good to set some that you are in control of, small or big, it’s great knowing that you have achieved your goal and with support from family and friends, and in my case people I didn’t even know, it is truly amazing.
Lastly will you carry on with your walking?
Absolutely! I need a new pair of walking shoes first but I’m looking forward to continuing my walks and we are so lucky to have so many fabulous walking routes in and around Guildford and the Surrey Hills.
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Thank You Corner, our chance to say thank you to people who have supported our work recently
We always like to say thank you publicly, though some of our supporters prefer to remain anonymous. Our warm thanks for all your generosity – in money or in kind go to...
Big Yellow Self Storage
Broadplace Advertising Ltd
Carol Hollingshead
Francesca Arocas
Greyfriars Vineyard
Honey Brothers
Lacie Howarth
Lee Cubitt
Penningtons Manches Cooper LLC
Sarah Hanna
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Meet Debbie – Our New Bookkeeper
Before joining the Fountain Centre, I lived in Ibiza working for a horse training centre, and before that I had an...online retail company selling girls special occasion dresses. In my spare time I play padel tennis as often as I can. It’s very big in Spain and is catching on here in the UK now, more clubs are opening up. Padel is a cross between tennis and squash, played outside in an enclosed court. It’s so much fun! My favourite holiday destination is South Africa. I love safari and could watch wild animals going about their business all day long, especially the giraffes.
What appealed to me most about working for the Fountain Centre was that I wanted to work for a charity, and cancer is something that affects everybody in some way, so it feels really good to be involved with such a worthwhile cause.
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A new way to donate
Covid has seen many changes, one being that we now carry less cash on us. Technology is amazing and here at
... the Fountain Centre we have embraced it. You can now simply scan our QR code on your smart phone and it will take you straight through to our Justgiving page where you can make your donation.
We also have a text to donate option, again simple and quick. Text FOUNTAIN and your donation amount to 70085. For example, FOUNTAIN 5.
However, if you do prefer the old-fashioned way of giving a cash donation, we will happily accept this as well.
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The Fountain Centre St Luke’s Cancer Centre, Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Egerton Road, Guildford Surrey GU2 7XX