Ms Tumong Edwards spoke about Maggie’s Centres at the at the 17th March meeting of Anstruther Rotary.  Although known to most of the audience, we enjoyed an interesting and often moving explanation of the work of Maggie’s. It started with the story of its founder, Maggie Keswick Jencks who lived with advanced cancer for two years. During that time she used her knowledge and experience to create a blueprint for a new type of care. Maggie’s Centres are built around her belief that people should not ‘lose the joy of living in the fear of dying’.

There are now 9 centres in Scotland, another 9 in other parts of the UK and new ones opening overseas. Those in the UK are built on NHS sites and all are open to anyone affected by cancer – including carers and family and friends. The centres do not provide medical cancer treatment, but all are there for a chat, a welcome, a cup of tea, and a home from home. We heard that people like to form groups, for example by cancer type, by severity or by age (especially for young people).

Maggie’s programmes of support have been shown to strengthen the physical and emotional wellbeing of people with cancer and their families and friends. The Department of Health describes the work as an example of best practice.  

Tumong concluded her talk by describing the funding of Maggie’s and expressing her thanks on behalf of the organisation to all who help in whatever way. Maggie’s will in fact be a beneficiary of Anstruther Rotary’s Charity Coastal Path Walk on Sunday 25th May.

Following questions a vote of thanks for a most professional and absorbing talk was proposed by Findlay McLaren. More about  Maggie’s Centres at (https://community.maggiescentres.org)