Shine Dorset Coffee & Drinks 30th August 2012

We managed a quick coffee and an evening drink this week! Trying to catch people that are busy in the evenings and those working during the day.

The Flirt cafe in Bournemouth triangle is the perfect host for an informal coffee catch up and their home-made cakes are amazing! It was great to meet a new Shine member too.

In the evening we were back in Bournemouth and managed to spot a couple of planes from the air show too, 2 for 1 cocktails went down a treat followed by a visit to the air show theme bar set up in Bournemouth square.

Our social coffee and drinks events are great opportunities for our members to meet up and have a relaxed chat with people that understand their experiences. The value of that is much more than the cost of a few coffees (we bought our own cocktails!!)

We have been talking to people from across the country about starting Shine groups in their areas, we hear from so many people from around the UK who would love to have something similar in their area and we are doing all we can to support these new groups.

It would be great to see enough groups set up across the country so that any young adult diagnosed with any type of cancer has the chance to meet others in their age group to help and support each other.

If you are interested in starting something in your area, please get in touch to find out how we can help!

Small c Event – 1st meeting of the Steering group!

18 August 2102

Today was the hottest day of the year in London and also the day of the first official steering group meeting for the Small c project.

Ceinwen & Laura after the meeting

The project is about designing and delivering a multi-day getaway/escape/retreat (not decided on the name yet!) for people with cancer in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

We aim to provide great opportunities for people to get together and meet others with similar experiences and also to access information and advice in areas that may have been missing from their experiences of living with cancer.

Our nationwide survey of younger adults with cancer highlighted that there are many unmet needs when faced with cancer at this age and we aim to help fill the gaps.

The first steering group meeting was a chance to build on what we learnt at our first workshop which was held at the Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in London back in April. At this workshop we were joined by 23 people with various cancer diagnoses and experiences who were prepared to share their stories to help us understand fully the gaps in current services and how they thought these could be addressed.

At the Small c workshop in April 2012

Shine Camp 2012

3rd August 2012

This was our third annual summer camping trip for our members and their families.

We booked an amazing events field in Dorset which meant that we had a beautiful and private area in which to camp. Turning a field into a perfect camp took a bit of organising though, from an amazing marquee in case of wet weather to posh toilets and Olympic games for the children it all came together really well and we had a great time.

The trip started on the Friday, with around 30 people pitching their tents and exploring the great surroundings. We had woodland to explore and a camp-fire to light and spent our first night under the stars around the camp-fire sharing a buffet dinner.

On the Saturday more people arrived to join us for the Shine Mini-Olympics and the evening BBQ, again around the camp-fire and with the bonus of some great weather!

After the brilliant BBQ (with plenty of salad and veggie kebabs!) the ‘disco bus’ put in an appearance and kept us entertained with music and disco lights (and lets not mention the Karaoke!)

At some point in the morning Emma whipped up a batch of bacon sandwiches for everyone on camp which went down nicely sitting outside in the sunshine!

(Still in her PJ’s!!!)

Sunday was a great chill out day with a few people leaving to get ready for work on Monday (boo) but the rest of us stayed one more night and enjoyed finishing off all of the leftover food and drink from the weekend and catching up on our suntans!

This was a great camp and a brilliant chance to meet some new members who came a long for the BBQ on Saturday.

Thank you to everyone that helped with the planning and organising over the weekend (and the washing up!) and a big thank you to anyone who has been involved in fundraising which allows us to provide this great opportunity for young people affected by cancer to get together and chat, to escape from their normal lives for a few days and to make new friends.

I’ll leave with a quote from one of the members who came along for the weekend:

“I have had the best time ever! There are some amazing people here and it’s really great to be able to have a good old chat about things with people who really get it! Thank you so much for organising it”

London 2012 Olympic Torchbearers

We are extremely proud that two of our trustees were nominated and selected to carry the Olympic Torch during the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay!

Both Ceinwen & Emma said that their time with the torch was an amazing experience and a day they will never forget.

Congratulations!

Ceinwen with her torch!

and Emma with hers!

Since their torch relay days, both Emma & Ceinwen have been busy taking their torches to visit schools, nurseries and other charities to spread the joy of the experience.

Hello world! Our history!

Hi everyone and welcome to our new blog!

We plan to use this blog to share with you everything we get up to….our events and activities and possibly our random thoughts too!

We would love it if you would share the link and spread a little Shine…

Thank you!

In this post, we have added a lot of our historic events and activities so it is a bit of a long one!

Christmas Party 2011

Another great night out at the Orchid Hotel in Bournemouth, lovely dinner and then some cheesy disco dancing! perfect….

3rd Anniversary Party & Fundraiser

Friday 28th October 2011

Our Halloween themed party was a great success….Lots of effort went into some amazing costumes and a great time was had by everyone!

Summer Holiday 26th-29th August 2011

The summer camping trip with a twist was great fun with unexpectedly good weather! The twist is that we had a wonderful converted barn which meant that we had bad weather back up and that some of our members could sleep in a real bed!

The location was great, just on the clifftop at Swanage so great views and access to the beach and a swimming pool.

38 of our members and families came along for the team BBQ on the Saturday night and the rest of the weekend was a mixture of relaxation and fun, spending time together or off out with the family!

Ferndown Relay for Life 16th-17th July 2011

The Shine team did not let the weather stop them for this 24 hour relay event! We raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK and had great fun doing it too!

Fundraising Raffle! 22nd June 2011

Frans Fundraising party was a great success, raising over £500 for Shine – thanks Fran xx

Pamper Day 29th May 2011

The pamper day on 29th May 2011 was an amazing success with lots of people having some amazing treats.Thank you so much to all of the therapists that gave their time for free and to the Shine team that helped on the day and made amazing cakes.Special thanks must go to Lin for organising it all! wow!!

The final total for funds raised is now over £1000! Thank you

Shine Christmas Party

Shine members and their partners or family members enjoyed a Christmas Dinner and Disco in early December, a secret santa present for everyone and a bit of cheesy disco dancing made for a great night!

23rd Oct 2010 2nd Anniversary

The Shine anniversary party was a great success, raising money and having a great time! The evening was hosted by breakfast DJs from ThunderFM Jay & Faye. They made sure tha party went with a bang and the silent auction was a great success thanks to their energy and competition!