Lingen Davies is 45!!!
Thank you to everyone who joined us on Wednesday to mark Lingen Davies’ 45th anniversary.
Staff, trustees, volunteers, supporters, and patients were joined by The High Sheriff of Shropshire Brian Welti and charity Patron Lady Jane Heber-Percy for speeches, cake cutting, and celebrations in Shrewsbury Square. Our mascot Sunny was there to greet everyone, and the crowd heard about the vital work of the charity from CEO Naomi Atkin, Chair of Trustees Mark Harris, and very special words from Alice Christian, the daughter of Mark Christian who was a fabulous friend of Lingen Davies and sadly lost his life to cancer last year.
On 5th, June 1979, the charity was established by then Mayor of Shrewsbury Bernard Lingen, and local accountant Frank Davies, to bring cancer services to Shropshire. Initially known as the Cobalt Unit Trust Fund the charity has gone on to fund projects valued in excess of £20,000,000, positively impacting on more than 100,000 people.
Today we work to support everyone in our community by raising awareness about cancer, encouraging people to recognise the signs and symptoms of cancer, recruiting volunteers to act as cancer champions, and contributing to driving up early diagnosis rates. The charity is also funding a wide range of holistic therapies to benefit those living with and beyond cancer. iCan Cancer Rehabilitation has been running for more than two years now, we have initially agreed to fund three years. To date more than 600 people have been through the programme and experienced the holistic approach to physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.
We are also funding yoga and tai chi with Jenna Blair Yoga in Belle Vue, Shrewsbury, horticultural therapies based at the West Mid Showground, and we are offering a wide range of experiences with nature through Fordhall Farm, near Market Drayton.
As well as hosting roadshows in Shrewsbury, Powys and Telford this month, we are inviting our supporters to get involved with our 45 for 45 fundraising initiative.
CEO Naomi Atkin said: “We’re delighted to be able to take the Lingen Davies LifeLife Cancer Awareness van out into our community to celebrate this milestone with our supporters.
“We were honoured to be joined by the High Sheriff of Shropshire, our Patron Lady Jane Heber-Percy, and a number of our trustees, corporate partners, volunteers and supporters. We celebrated the achievements of so many who have given their time, fundraising support, and dedication to Lingen Davies over the last 45 years. We continue to strive to make a positive difference to those impacted by cancer, as well as working to raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of cancer in the local community. We cannot eradicate cancer but together we can work to make a big difference to those impacted by it. We have lots of different ways people can give us their support and I look forward to meeting more of our community soon.”
