Hastings and Bexhill Area Breast Cancer Support Group

Meeting Feedback

This feedback will help members unable to attend a meeting keep up with what's been

happening, and give non-members an idea of what we do at our meetings.

January meeting 2017 

Due to various unseen problems this meeting was cancelled

February meeting 2017

Due to ongoing problems with our usual meeting venue, we met again at Little Phatisserie, Bexhill, Tanya very kindly stayed open for us, making everyone very welcome and we'd like to say a huge thank you to her for this.

March Meeting 2017

Well, it looks as if our usual meeting venue is going to be uncertain for a while and as we were offered St Ethelburga's Church, St Leonards, as an alternative we met there, which was very warm and welcoming, thank you to the wardens of the church who relocated us from St Leonards to their sister church. We must reiterate that we are not a Church group but very grateful to these churches for the offer of their premises for our meetings. After welcoming some new members, Pam and Gloria reported on the Macmillan seminar they had attended in Eastbourne which proved to be very useful and looks like the group could get some real benefit from Macmillan. Pam, Gloria and Pat are to follow this through.... more news later on. Heather reported that there is to be a new venue for the BCC London Fashion Show this year, at Westminster Bridge, much more easily accessible for us and that it will be running from 12noon - 4pm. The date for the show is Wed 2nd November, tickets are £69 and anyone intersted should contact Heather by 30th June. Philippa had ordered and brought along some samples from Knitted Knockers, a group who provide an alternative to the prothesis provided by the hospital. She uses them herself and was very keen to promote their lightweight, softness and other benefits. Pat took a list of names of those interested in the Art Workshop that Ann will be running later on this year and explained that we hope to welcome Gilly Cant from Flat Friends to out next meeting in April. Coffee followed giving everyone a chance to chat, a time when new members really get a chance to chat together and get the support they need.

April Meeting 2016

What a fabulous evening tonight with the wonderful Gilly Cant from Flat Friends, very inspiring. Gilly is going to give us a summary of her group for those of you who missed it, you will love it. For those of you interested in the London BCC Fashion Show this year, there are a few changes to previous years. It's on Wed 2nd November, yes November, not October. It will run from 12 noon to 4.15 including a 2 course lunch. A new venue this year too - Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge. Tickets are £69 but if you are interested it's probably best to bring your cheque book along as we were discussing subsidising this event in a different way this year. Janet has put a certain amount of money aside for this and instead of sponsoring two people to attend, the idea was put forward that the money was split equally between those who wish to attend. If you have any questions about this you could always ring Heather or Janet to discuss. We are also on the lookout for a possible new venue. We are asking members to think about this and bring their ideas to the next meeting. The criteria we would like to meet are as follows: 1. A comfortable room to cater for up to 30 people, with access to kitchen for drinks. 2. A second room or space which could be made available for a therapist (ie aromatherapist) or private conversation. 3. Somewhere not too open or public, because you know what we're like showing off our scars/reconstructions! 4. Fairly central point, bearing in mind we have members from Pett, Robertsbridge, Battle, Hooe. St Leonard's has been quite popular. 5. Easy parking 6. Not too expensive Take care everyone.

June Meeting 2016

Another lovely informal meeting at St Ethelburga's tonight. General discussion about various treatments, the suggestion that we all have name badges (Christian name only) to help new people and others of us suffering "chemo brain". One of our main points of discussion was the meeting venue. Pat has been along to check out The Pelham, Bexhill - used to be The Pelham pub, which was shut down some 6 years ago and is now being run as a community hub - very ...impressed, so ladies our NEXT MEETING JULY 6TH will be held there to see what everyone thinks. Full address THE PELHAM, HOLLIERS HILL, BEXHILL TN40 2DD. Easy access if you are coming from the back of Hastings down the new link road. Come off at Wrestwood Road exit turn right and follow the road to the end. The Pelham is on the corner on the left, turn left and you will clearly see a sign saying Pelham Car Park, turn up there for off road parking. Look forward to hearing your comments. In the meantime, keep well.

July Meeting 2016

Great meeting this evening at new venue, The Pelham, Bexhill, which obviously appealed to most people as we had an overwhelming vote to make it our permanent venue. We also celebrated being awarded the grant that we applied for from Macmillan. All good news. Over the next couple of months we'll be discussing the best way to put the money to good use, A near disaster with the London Fashion Show. Apparently we didn't show our interest in attending the show early enough and Heather received a phone call saying that all places were booked in May! However after discussion, they looked back on their records and could see that the group has attended for years, and so agreed to fit in an extra table for us. Well done Heather, and thank you for organising this trip again this year. Sweets are still needed at the next meeting ladies for tombola at Rye Town and Country Fair, in particular Sheila would like chocolate - not too worry about heat and melting problems - Sheila has it sorted. A gazebo also needed for this event please. Please contact Sheila if you have one. Pam is also collecting bottles - full ones, but can contain anything from drink to tomato ketchup for another tombola - so bring them along with you next time. These two table games help to raise funds for the group - but also raise awareness of our group at events - especially if we get our new pop up banner to go beside the them The new oncologist at Conquest is Dr Jennifer Glendenning. See you at the next meeting.

August Meeting 2016

We're beginning to feel our way with our lovely new venue, and starting this month, we are joined by Amanda, who we are thrilled to welcome on board. Each meeting she aims to give a couple of a members (maybe three) a reflexology session. If you're going through a particularly sticky patch at the moment and feel you would like on of these sessions, please let us know, so that we can book you in at the next meeting, otherwise we'll be working through group members who'd like a session. If you're not sure not sure what it involves, feel free to ring one of us to ask. We're also finding our way with the grant that we've received, which we now have in our bank account, so as you can imagine there were many "business" matters to discuss at the beginning of the meeting. Anne has agreed to take on the job of transport, so if any of you have any problems getting to meetings, or indeed appointments at the hospital, please speak to her. Just a couple of other things of interest: Sheila said that she was itching to get off of Anastrozole (Arimadex), but as her 5 years are coming to an end, she was beginning to get a bit worried, because, like all of us she felt that her safety net would be going, especially after hearing that there was now a recommendation to stay on it for longer. So she rang the Breast Care Nurse, who spoke to Mr Subramanian, who consulted the new Oncologist Jenny Glendenning, the result being that she is going to stay on it for a little longer. If you have queries like this about your medication, she recommended ringing the hospital, not going to your GP. Book Nov 9th in your diaries, as we have Ash Subramanian coming along to speak to us at our meeting, hopefully with Jenny Glendenning, Oncologist. And to finish off... Carole and Chris both celebrate "big" birthdays this month, so we enjoyed birthday cake along with our cuppa this evening. See you next month.

September Meeting 2016

Another great meeting this evening, although I missed the beginning of it as I was having a relaxing reflexology treatment! We are so lucky to have been given our Macmillan grant enabling us to have a couple of therapists on hand at each meeting, Amanda our reflexologist and now Naomi a podiatrist, who will not only trim your nails, check over your feet, but make you come away feeling as if you are walking on air. These treatments will be on offer most months to anyone, in fact we need to make the most of these sessions so please don't be shy in coming forward, we all deserve a bit of pampering. If you feel you would like one of these treatments, please be sure to let us know, so that we can book you in, either prior to the meeting, or if you're lucky and there's an available slot, as you arrive. One of the conditions of us having our grant was that we kept a register. It seems strange now that we haven't done so before, but now that we've started, we can see at least one other benefit from it, and that is that we can use it to show a more caring attitude to our members. Carole has agreed to look after the register, and if we haven't seen or heard from one of the group for a few months (bearing in mind it is a group that people can dip in and out of) she will make contact/send a card checking that everything is ok, or whether there is any help needed - just touching base really, but not in a way that makes people feel we're chasing them up. We're still looking to produce our own "pack" of information that could be handed out to breast cancer patients. This would be a bit about us, where to obtain wigs/hats locally and any other useful information that you felt you needed to know at the time of your treatment, hopefully filling in the gaps with local knowledge and recommendations that Breast Cancer Care's package is unable to provide. We thought this would be good thing to discuss at our November meeting when we are lucky enough to have not only Ash Subramanian, Breast Surgeon, but also Jennifer Glendenning the new Oncologist at The Conquest join us at our meeting. Then, if it is possible to have these packages handed out at the hospital, it would be worth us producing them professionally. If you have anything that you feel should be included, either bring it up at our next meeting, email, post it on here, phone etc. See you at our next meeting Wednesday 12th October. If we haven't seen you for a while, please don't be shy, come and take a look at our new venue, and book yourselves in for treatment as well if you'd like.

October Meeting 2016

Heather has everything arranged for the London fashion show in November, she has bought tickets in advance and looks forward to meeting all those going at the station at 9.30 ready for the 9.45 train. If you are going and not sure of anything, please contact her - she read through the days itinerary and it sounds great, so I hope you all have a lovely day. Since our last meeting Janet and Pam have met up with Jane Viner from Macmillan, who was able to answer some of our questions re our grant money, and exactly how we might spend it. Sadly, we may be losing Jane as our contact, as she may be moved to work in a different area. One of the items we've been granted money for is an annual "do". How would you like this money to be spent? A meal out, afternoon tea together somewhere, a day out... it's your group and we'd love your ideas, so that we can arrange it. Next month, we'll be welcoming Ash Subramanian and Jennifer Glendenning, new Oncologist at The Conquest, to our meeting, which, if it's like last years meeting, should be very interesting. Our December meeting will be by way of a bit of a Christmas party and Gloria is looking into nibbles for the evening... and so it will be the end of another year, which reminds me that I must make up a list of next year's meeting dates, and update our "contacts list", so, if you have a change of address or telephone number, let me know, before our next meeting please. We will be having a stall again at the Sarah Lee Christmas Fayre on 19th November. The chocolate tombola that Sheila ran in the summer did very well, and she has a few sweets left over, and still in date, so she's looking to do that again, but will obviously need some more sweets for that, so please bring them along to our next meeting. The Fayre runs from 10 - 1pm, so if you're free and would like to lend a hand please contact Sheila.

November Meeting 2016

What an interesting time we had on Wednesday when a large number of us met together and had the opportunity to meet, and talk to Ash Subramanian, Breat Surgeon and Jenny Glendenning, Oncologist, who joined us for the evening. We had a lot of questions to ask, which covered a huge range of subjects, current treatments, drugs (and how long we should take them for), life expectancy, hereditary breast cancer, implants, mastectomies, mammograms, the list goes on.....  They were both very forthcoming with their answers, which was very well received, the feedback was very positive. In the majority of cases breast cancer is a very treatable disease, with an excellent chance of long term cure. Many of us have now finished our treatment, but we know that if you should find yourself in the position of having to speak to either of these lovely people, they will be respectful of your wishes and give you time to discuss all options available to you - they are on your side. Our December meeting (14th) is a bit of a party - so we hope to see you there. Sometimes I meet people who say that they feel embarrassed about coming along again if they haven't been for a while, especially turning up for a Christmas party. Please don't be silly, it's lovely to see old friends again, you are welcome anytime.

December Meeting 2016

How lovely to see so many of you this evening, and to welcome three new members, all of whom said they felt such a warm welcome and were so pleased that they'd come along to join us. Our games were just as dis-organised as usual (let's not mention the CD player - definitely heading for the bin) the food, courtesy of Gloria was lovely and all in all I hope everyone had a good time and look forward to seeing you all again in 2017!
Hastings and Bexhill Area Breast Cancer Support Group

Meeting Feedback

This feedback will help members unable to

attend a meeting keep up with what's been

happening, and give non-members an idea of

what we do at our meetings.

January meeting 2017 

Due to various unseen problems this meeting was cancelled

February meeting 2017

Due to ongoing problems with our usual meeting venue, we met again at Little Phatisserie, Bexhill, Tanya very kindly stayed open for us, making everyone very welcome and we'd like to say a huge thank you to her for this.

March Meeting 2017

Well, it looks as if our usual meeting venue is going to be uncertain for a while and as we were offered St Ethelburga's Church, St Leonards, as an alternative we met there, which was very warm and welcoming, thank you to the wardens of the church who relocated us from St Leonards to their sister church. We must reiterate that we are not a Church group but very grateful to these churches for the offer of their premises for our meetings. After welcoming some new members, Pam and Gloria reported on the Macmillan seminar they had attended in Eastbourne which proved to be very useful and looks like the group could get some real benefit from Macmillan. Pam, Gloria and Pat are to follow this through.... more news later on. Heather reported that there is to be a new venue for the BCC London Fashion Show this year, at Westminster Bridge, much more easily accessible for us and that it will be running from 12noon - 4pm. The date for the show is Wed 2nd November, tickets are £69 and anyone intersted should contact Heather by 30th June. Philippa had ordered and brought along some samples from Knitted Knockers, a group who provide an alternative to the prothesis provided by the hospital. She uses them herself and was very keen to promote their lightweight, softness and other benefits. Pat took a list of names of those interested in the Art Workshop that Ann will be running later on this year and explained that we hope to welcome Gilly Cant from Flat Friends to out next meeting in April. Coffee followed giving everyone a chance to chat, a time when new members really get a chance to chat together and get the support they need.

April Meeting 2016

What a fabulous evening tonight with the wonderful Gilly Cant from Flat Friends, very inspiring. Gilly is going to give us a summary of her group for those of you who missed it, you will love it. For those of you interested in the London BCC Fashion Show this year, there are a few changes to previous years. It's on Wed 2nd November, yes November, not October. It will run from 12 noon to 4.15 including a 2 course lunch. A new venue this year too - Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge. Tickets are £69 but if you are interested it's probably best to bring your cheque book along as we were discussing subsidising this event in a different way this year. Janet has put a certain amount of money aside for this and instead of sponsoring two people to attend, the idea was put forward that the money was split equally between those who wish to attend. If you have any questions about this you could always ring Heather or Janet to discuss. We are also on the lookout for a possible new venue. We are asking members to think about this and bring their ideas to the next meeting. The criteria we would like to meet are as follows: 1. A comfortable room to cater for up to 30 people, with access to kitchen for drinks. 2. A second room or space which could be made available for a therapist (ie aromatherapist) or private conversation. 3. Somewhere not too open or public, because you know what we're like showing off our scars/reconstructions! 4. Fairly central point, bearing in mind we have members from Pett, Robertsbridge, Battle, Hooe. St Leonard's has been quite popular. 5. Easy parking 6. Not too expensive Take care everyone.

June Meeting 2016

Another lovely informal meeting at St Ethelburga's tonight. General discussion about various treatments, the suggestion that we all have name badges (Christian name only) to help new people and others of us suffering "chemo brain". One of our main points of discussion was the meeting venue. Pat has been along to check out The Pelham, Bexhill - used to be The Pelham pub, which was shut down some 6 years ago and is now being run as a community hub - very ...impressed, so ladies our NEXT MEETING JULY 6TH will be held there to see what everyone thinks. Full address THE PELHAM, HOLLIERS HILL, BEXHILL TN40 2DD. Easy access if you are coming from the back of Hastings down the new link road. Come off at Wrestwood Road exit turn right and follow the road to the end. The Pelham is on the corner on the left, turn left and you will clearly see a sign saying Pelham Car Park, turn up there for off road parking. Look forward to hearing your comments. In the meantime, keep well.

July Meeting 2016

Great meeting this evening at new venue, The Pelham, Bexhill, which obviously appealed to most people as we had an overwhelming vote to make it our permanent venue. We also celebrated being awarded the grant that we applied for from Macmillan. All good news. Over the next couple of months we'll be discussing the best way to put the money to good use, A near disaster with the London Fashion Show. Apparently we didn't show our interest in attending the show early enough and Heather received a phone call saying that all places were booked in May! However after discussion, they looked back on their records and could see that the group has attended for years, and so agreed to fit in an extra table for us. Well done Heather, and thank you for organising this trip again this year. Sweets are still needed at the next meeting ladies for tombola at Rye Town and Country Fair, in particular Sheila would like chocolate - not too worry about heat and melting problems - Sheila has it sorted. A gazebo also needed for this event please. Please contact Sheila if you have one. Pam is also collecting bottles - full ones, but can contain anything from drink to tomato ketchup for another tombola - so bring them along with you next time. These two table games help to raise funds for the group - but also raise awareness of our group at events - especially if we get our new pop up banner to go beside the them The new oncologist at Conquest is Dr Jennifer Glendenning. See you at the next meeting.

August Meeting 2016

We're beginning to feel our way with our lovely new venue, and starting this month, we are joined by Amanda, who we are thrilled to welcome on board. Each meeting she aims to give a couple of a members (maybe three) a reflexology session. If you're going through a particularly sticky patch at the moment and feel you would like on of these sessions, please let us know, so that we can book you in at the next meeting, otherwise we'll be working through group members who'd like a session. If you're not sure not sure what it involves, feel free to ring one of us to ask. We're also finding our way with the grant that we've received, which we now have in our bank account, so as you can imagine there were many "business" matters to discuss at the beginning of the meeting. Anne has agreed to take on the job of transport, so if any of you have any problems getting to meetings, or indeed appointments at the hospital, please speak to her. Just a couple of other things of interest: Sheila said that she was itching to get off of Anastrozole (Arimadex), but as her 5 years are coming to an end, she was beginning to get a bit worried, because, like all of us she felt that her safety net would be going, especially after hearing that there was now a recommendation to stay on it for longer. So she rang the Breast Care Nurse, who spoke to Mr Subramanian, who consulted the new Oncologist Jenny Glendenning, the result being that she is going to stay on it for a little longer. If you have queries like this about your medication, she recommended ringing the hospital, not going to your GP. Book Nov 9th in your diaries, as we have Ash Subramanian coming along to speak to us at our meeting, hopefully with Jenny Glendenning, Oncologist. And to finish off... Carole and Chris both celebrate "big" birthdays this month, so we enjoyed birthday cake along with our cuppa this evening. See you next month.

September Meeting 2016

Another great meeting this evening, although I missed the beginning of it as I was having a relaxing reflexology treatment! We are so lucky to have been given our Macmillan grant enabling us to have a couple of therapists on hand at each meeting, Amanda our reflexologist and now Naomi a podiatrist, who will not only trim your nails, check over your feet, but make you come away feeling as if you are walking on air. These treatments will be on offer most months to anyone, in fact we need to make the most of these sessions so please don't be shy in coming forward, we all deserve a bit of pampering. If you feel you would like one of these treatments, please be sure to let us know, so that we can book you in, either prior to the meeting, or if you're lucky and there's an available slot, as you arrive. One of the conditions of us having our grant was that we kept a register. It seems strange now that we haven't done so before, but now that we've started, we can see at least one other benefit from it, and that is that we can use it to show a more caring attitude to our members. Carole has agreed to look after the register, and if we haven't seen or heard from one of the group for a few months (bearing in mind it is a group that people can dip in and out of) she will make contact/send a card checking that everything is ok, or whether there is any help needed - just touching base really, but not in a way that makes people feel we're chasing them up. We're still looking to produce our own "pack" of information that could be handed out to breast cancer patients. This would be a bit about us, where to obtain wigs/hats locally and any other useful information that you felt you needed to know at the time of your treatment, hopefully filling in the gaps with local knowledge and recommendations that Breast Cancer Care's package is unable to provide. We thought this would be good thing to discuss at our November meeting when we are lucky enough to have not only Ash Subramanian, Breast Surgeon, but also Jennifer Glendenning the new Oncologist at The Conquest join us at our meeting. Then, if it is possible to have these packages handed out at the hospital, it would be worth us producing them professionally. If you have anything that you feel should be included, either bring it up at our next meeting, email, post it on here, phone etc. See you at our next meeting Wednesday 12th October. If we haven't seen you for a while, please don't be shy, come and take a look at our new venue, and book yourselves in for treatment as well if you'd like.

October Meeting 2016

Heather has everything arranged for the London fashion show in November, she has bought tickets in advance and looks forward to meeting all those going at the station at 9.30 ready for the 9.45 train. If you are going and not sure of anything, please contact her - she read through the days itinerary and it sounds great, so I hope you all have a lovely day. Since our last meeting Janet and Pam have met up with Jane Viner from Macmillan, who was able to answer some of our questions re our grant money, and exactly how we might spend it. Sadly, we may be losing Jane as our contact, as she may be moved to work in a different area. One of the items we've been granted money for is an annual "do". How would you like this money to be spent? A meal out, afternoon tea together somewhere, a day out... it's your group and we'd love your ideas, so that we can arrange it. Next month, we'll be welcoming Ash Subramanian and Jennifer Glendenning, new Oncologist at The Conquest, to our meeting, which, if it's like last years meeting, should be very interesting. Our December meeting will be by way of a bit of a Christmas party and Gloria is looking into nibbles for the evening... and so it will be the end of another year, which reminds me that I must make up a list of next year's meeting dates, and update our "contacts list", so, if you have a change of address or telephone number, let me know, before our next meeting please. We will be having a stall again at the Sarah Lee Christmas Fayre on 19th November. The chocolate tombola that Sheila ran in the summer did very well, and she has a few sweets left over, and still in date, so she's looking to do that again, but will obviously need some more sweets for that, so please bring them along to our next meeting. The Fayre runs from 10 - 1pm, so if you're free and would like to lend a hand please contact Sheila.

November Meeting 2016

What an interesting time we had on Wednesday when a large number of us met together and had the opportunity to meet, and talk to Ash Subramanian, Breat Surgeon and Jenny Glendenning, Oncologist, who joined us for the evening. We had a lot of questions to ask, which covered a huge range of subjects, current treatments, drugs (and how long we should take them for), life expectancy, hereditary breast cancer, implants, mastectomies, mammograms, the list goes on.....  They were both very forthcoming with their answers, which was very well received, the feedback was very positive. In the majority of cases breast cancer is a very treatable disease, with an excellent chance of long term cure. Many of us have now finished our treatment, but we know that if you should find yourself in the position of having to speak to either of these lovely people, they will be respectful of your wishes and give you time to discuss all options available to you - they are on your side. Our December meeting (14th) is a bit of a party - so we hope to see you there. Sometimes I meet people who say that they feel embarrassed about coming along again if they haven't been for a while, especially turning up for a Christmas party. Please don't be silly, it's lovely to see old friends again, you are welcome anytime.

December Meeting 2016

How lovely to see so many of you this evening, and to welcome three new members, all of whom said they felt such a warm welcome and were so pleased that they'd come along to join us. Our games were just as dis-organised as usual (let's not mention the CD player - definitely heading for the bin) the food, courtesy of Gloria was lovely and all in all I hope everyone had a good time and look forward to seeing you all again in 2017!