Newsletter No.25 – September 2020

And so we now welcome autumn, a time to be grateful for whatever crops we are able to yield and to explore the delights of finding new apple recipes! This photo is sunrise on 22^nd September, post swim, my own way of embracing the change in seasons. Apples seem to be able to be put in to everything from cakes to curries, humous to soup, thank goodness I hate seeing food being wasted! I expect though that there will be many delighted wildlife who will enjoy chomping on the wind falls we don’t get to.

Kindness is positively oozing out of our community at the moment, I cannot list all the generous donations and acts of kindness I have experienced this last month. We are blessed to live in a community where supporting each other is something the vast majority of the population want to do.

We continue to enjoy our weekly zoom meetings each Monday and share stories, swap ideas & offer support. Anyone is welcome to join and we have some guest speakers joining us in the coming weeks.

Duke is loving exploring more now and is destined to be multi coloured! he loves finding the smelliest, thickest mud possible and is rather partial to rolling in it as well….at least he likes a shower!

 

 

 

Beach Hut Update

It is so lovely to receive the emails in response to your day by the sea and the fun things you are getting up to whilst down visiting. Some people live in town but other to others it really feels like an escape of reality for a few hours. Watching the world go by, flying a kite and enjoying a cuppa and a good book or magazine.

We are now taking bookings via the website until 31 January 2021.
If you would like to book the beach hut – please follow the link below 
https://axminsterandlymecancersupport.co.uk/beach-hut/

Please note the Beach Hut is cleaned regularly by our small team of volunteers who may turn up when you have your spot to do a quick tidy up.

Online Shop – Cards, Key-rings and CDs

Is it to early to mention Christmas Cards??

We have special offers available like buy 10 get one free for cards and an offer of free delivery if you spend over £20. We can also arrange local collection or delivery as a free option instead of postage so do take advantage of this offer. We may even have an additional card on its way for the festive season.

Please click the link to browse our items.

https://axminsterandlymecancersupport.co.uk/shop/

Thank you

Thank-you to Kelsey and the team at Vicary and Co who organised the coffee morning on Thursday 24^th September in Axminster and this coming Thursday 1^st October in Bridport. It was so wonderful to be able to see people, albeit socially distanced! Amazing homemade cakes were sold and Sophie and her incredible team at The Waffle House provided teas and coffees. The money raised is being split between Macmillan and ALCS. Thank-you to all those who helped by baking, attending, and eating cake!

The waffle house is getting a new home, they are now shut until November but will be opening up on the first floor of Trinity House. This is going to be an amazing community space for local people to use and enjoy a tasty waffle.

 

 

 

They said to go home.

“They said, ‘the scans look fine, your body will recover, you don’t need to be here anymore. The cancer might come back, but until then there’s nothing we can do.’
They said to go home.

They said, ‘go on and live your life. Take a breath, take a nap, maybe even take a vacation. Go back to your jobs, back to your hobbies, back to laundry, dishes, and paying the bills. Spend time with your family, meet a friend for lunch, catch a movie with your loved ones.’
It sounded nice when they said to go home.
So we went home.

But the home we went back to wasn’t as familiar as we thought.
The paint was the right colour and the furniture was in place, but it wasn’t the same. Our thoughts, feelings, and interests had changed. Our relationships, jobs, and bodies felt so much different.
They said to go home, so we tried to go home, but it didn’t feel like home.

We felt lost. It was as if we had been on a path, kidnapped somewhere in the middle, turned around 20 times, and set off in a new direction. We didn’t know which way was up or down, left or right. We felt stranded in the desert- abandoned, desolate, and lonely.
They said to go home.

But home was out of reach. The home we knew didn’t exist anymore. We wandered around before trying to build a new home. But the new home crumbled and cracked, forcing us to repair, rebuild, or start completely over.
They said to go home.

But they didn’t understand. After seeing thousands of patients in this position, they still didn’t understand. It looked so simple from their perspective. Go home, go back to your life, pretend that cancer never came.
But we couldn’t go home.

Our souls were altered on the deepest level. Our hearts were shattered, our minds were chaos, and our bodies hurt. They couldn’t see it.

Then we saw others. ‘Do you know where you are going?’ we asked.
‘No, I feel rather lost,’ they would say. ‘But you are welcome to join, and we can pave a new path together.’

In that moment, though we were all still lost, we felt a glimpse of home. Our hearts connected and friendships formed on the simplest notion of being aimless wanderers together.
‘thoughts and feelings make sense given all that you’ve been through.

Others may not understand, but I can see, because I’ve walked a similar path.’
‘You belong here.’
Our hearts began to relax. We took a deep breath of fresh air.
They said to come home.”—Anonymous

Change to the Nordic Walking Programme.

You will be able to go Nordic Walk with Gillian, on any walk and we will cover the cost of this, up to one a week. This means you can choose the walk that is the match for your fitness, diary and needs.

The designated ALCS walks will no longer be happening.

In order to get your ‘voucher’ for Nordic walks, please email admin@axminsterandlymecancersupport.co.uk  These are in blocks of six . You will be able to walk 52 weeks a year fully funded, just email after each block of six.

Please note we are not funding the cost of pole hire.

We hope you see this as a positive move, giving you more flexibility and more walks and wish you many happy miles Nordic walking around our beautiful countryside.

Yoga with Angela

Zoom yoga session are Tuesdays 11am until 12.15pm

£5 a class if anyone is interested you can e-mail Angela below and she will send you the zoom invite and other relevant details.

ashano22@gmail.com

Creative Writing with Ninette,

Ninette is going to ‘pop-in’ to our ‘drop-in’ on Monday 5^th October 2-3pm.

This will give you an opportunity to meet Ninette and ask any questions.

She will then outline the proposed course and details to which you will then be able to sign up.  Please Note – we do have a min and max numbers to be able to run this course.

Thank you to Tesco Bags of Help

They have provided us with a grant from their COVID-19 Communities Fund. This will enable us to continue supporting clients during these times.

Easyfundraising
Please help support us by shopping online.  Use easyfundraising to shop with over 3.600 retailers including Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, booking.com, eBay, Boden and M&S.

Every time you shop, you’ll raise a free donation for Axminster and Lyme Cancer Support – its that easy!
Start Easyfundraising today!.

Co-op Local Community Fund
Axminster and Lyme Cancer Support has been chosen to benefit from the next round of the Co-op Local Community Fund.
The funding has started so please do register your loyalty card so 1p of each £1 is given to ALCS.

Not a member?  Join here.  No matter which Co-op you use, the funds will come to the charity.

Recommended Reading

This month we would like to suggest a website….    https://www.pennybrohn.org.uk/

The Penny Brohn centre is somewhere you can visit in person (pre pandemic) and access many areas of support. During the last few months they are offering more online ways to stay connected and explore different options.