NEWS & EVENTS
Remembering David Blunt
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our trustee, colleague and friend David Blunt, who passed away in May. His family were with him in his final moments.
This is a great loss to Yorkshire Cancer Community, and to the many other organisations and people whose lives David touched through his quiet wisdom, support and commitment to others.
David brought not only experience and insight to the board, but also kindness, balance and integrity. He cared deeply about improving the lives of people affected by cancer and remained committed to that purpose even during his own difficult health challenges.
I know many of us will be reflecting on the contribution David made not only to Yorkshire Cancer Community, but also to many people and organisations across our wider community including the West Yorkshire & Harrogate Cancer Alliance, Calderdale & Huddersfield Foundation Trust and researchers at Cambridge University to name a few.
David brought warmth, wisdom and quiet strength to the work of the charity, and he remained deeply supportive of our shared mission to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.
While we mourn his loss, I think one of the greatest ways we can honour David’s memory is by continuing the work that mattered so much to him, standing alongside people affected by cancer, amplifying lived experience, and continuing to advocate for better support, services and outcomes for our communities.
Our thoughts are with David’s family and loved ones at this very difficult time.
Rhythm and Ribbons - our first ever fundraiser!!
Our Rhythm & Ribbons fundraiser on Sunday 30 November at the Leeds Irish Centre was a resounding success!
Our Cancer Champion Linda, who is living with lymphoma met Stewart at his YCC information stall in Leeds Market and they got chatting. Linda decided she wanted to help us in our hour of need, by bringing together this fundraiser to bring in much needed funding. There was fantastic live music from Jeni Jaye, Hollie Rose, Those 2, Paul Mac and The Singing Wardens of Lower Grange Choir. DJ Tommy K helped keep the party vibe going, and there was a raffle, children’s raffle, tombola, games including play your cards right and name the gingerbread person, delicious cakes and beautiful crafts, and lots and lots of fun!
We managed to raise £5,313 on the day, and were overwhelmed by the support we received. We even made an appearance on ITV Calendar!
Special thanks go to: –
- Councillors Asghar Khan, Luke Farley and Nkele Manaka from Leeds City Council for funding the event
- The Irish Centre for providing the venue absolutely free, and for all their help with promoting the event and decorating the room
- All of the raffle prize donors – check out the list, there’s so many people to thank!
- All of the people who donated tombola prizes, created wonderful crafts and cakes to sell, and helped make the whole event such a success
- Addleshaw Goddard for their donation to our fundraising through Liz Ward
- Jack Houldworth and Jamie Barawitzka from Leeds Beckett University who filmed and interviewed on the day
- Everyone who bought tickets and came along to support the event
And of course, the hugest thanks of all goes to Linda, who put her absolute heart and soul into organising this event. She really is an amazing lady and a true inspiration because despite her own health issues she has put so much into helping others.
Thanks so much, Linda – you’re a star!
Funded by your local ward Councillors of the Inner East Community Committee
Linda with a friend at the event
Councillors from Leeds City Council with staff and volunteers from YCC
The Singing Wardens of Lower Grange Choir who opened the show
We are PEN Awards 2025 winners!
We are delighted to share the news that we have been awarded runner up for the PEN Awards 2025 category Partnership Working to Improve the Experience, and we couldn’t feel prouder!
The Picker Experience Network Awards are the first and only awards programme to recognise best practice in patient experience across all facets of health and social care in the UK and beyond.
We have been awarded runner up for the category Partnership Working to Improve the Experience for our collaboration with the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance on the Cancer SMART project.
The awards ceremony took place on 2 October 2025 at the spectaclar Aston Webb Great Hall at Birmingham University, and we’re incredibly proud to have received this prestigious award. A huge well done to everyone who took part. It was truly an inspirational event and we were so thrilled to have been a part of it. Winning a prize was the icing on the cake!
Dr Stewart Manning joins the Ella Dawson Foundation
Our chairman Dr Stewart Manning has become a new ambassador for the Ella Dawson Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping young adults with a cancer diagnosis. Here’s what Stewart had to say about his new role.
I am a retired General Practitioner, having worked in South Leeds for most of my career. During that time, I also served as Medical Officer to Leeds United AFC from 1978 to 1990 and delivered Occupational Health Services to a variety of West Yorkshire businesses.
Although I retired in 2012, I badly missed contact with people. This led me to continue being involved in community and health-related work. I was an Ambassador for The Robert Sinclair Davidson Foundation for four years before becoming a Trustee and Chairman of a local charity, The Yorkshire Cancer Community. Through this role, I help deliver a programme called CANCER SMART, which educates people about cancer screening, healthy living, and the importance of knowing your own body.
Cancer has affected me deeply throughout my life – through family, friends, and many of my patients. Because of this, I also volunteer and fundraise for my local hospice in Leeds, St Gemma’s, and support the work of Macmillan and Pancreatic Cancer UK.
Yorkshire Cancer Community is funded by the Harrogate and West Yorkshire Cancer Alliance. It was during a Teams meeting that I first met Tasha Dawson, who is a lay member of the Board. After the meeting, I looked up the Ella Dawson Foundation, of which Tasha is a founder and Trustee. I was so impressed by their work helping young adults aged 18 to 30 with cancer that I contacted them straight away to arrange a meeting.
In February this year, I volunteered at their Ball. When I met up again with Tasha and Jane, they invited me to work with the Ella Dawson Foundation as an Ambassador. I accepted immediately, as the help given by this charity resonates with the difficulties I faced as a GP looking after a young man with cancer 25 years ago – when there were no organisations offering holistic support to this age group.
I feel I can bring my enthusiasm and experience to this charity.
My ethos is:
“One person cannot change the world, but anyone can change the world for one person.”
Relaunch of Community Patient Panel
On 26 September 2024 we relaunched the Community Patient Panel.
Our local cancer services benefit greatly from the knowledge and experience of patients, caregivers, and members of the public.
You can get involved with the panel in a variety of ways with us.
We are working with West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance (WYHCA) to make improvements, develop new ideas and ensure the patient VIEW is at the heart of everything we do.
The community panel is just one of the ways in which WYHCA is working with those affected by cancer across the area – patients and their families and carers – to ensure their experiences and views influence the Alliance work and the decisions they take. Panel members are involved through face to face sessions; online discussions, sharing views and ideas by email; one to one telephone calls and flexibly in other ways that work best for them. Tackling health inequality across West Yorkshire and Harrogate (the avoidable differences that exist in people’s health and treatment outcomes between different groups and communities) is a high priority for the Cancer Alliance and for the Yorkshire Cancer Community. To support us in this work, we want to ensure the membership of the panel is as diverse as possible, in terms of where people live; the type(s) of cancer they are experiencing or have experienced, the communities they come from and their personal backgrounds and circumstances. If you would like to join the panel, or learn more, email lauren@yorkshirecancercommunity.co.uk
OUR ONLINE GROUPS
Join us for our online Cancer SMART talk!
Email info@yorkshirecancercommunity.co.uk for more details
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