Shop For A Cure

A great day despite the weather!

Many thanks to everyone who supported us at our shopping event at Berrow Village Hall on Sunday April 22^nd 2012. 

We were delighted by the response from the public and stall holders for helping us work towards our goal of a future free from the fear of breast cancer.

As well as raising awareness, their kindness and enthusiasm enabled us to raise £400 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Plants, books, cakes, pottery, bags, beauty treatments, sweets, jewellery, cards, sock puppets and nappy cakes were just some of the gifts and offerings available from the 20 plus stalls.  

Plus every stall holder ensured a successful raffle by donating fab items to the prize table.    

A visit from the Mayor and Mayoress, along with local MP Tessa Munt was very much appreciated, although we believe they all declined a go on the inflatable ‘Terror Slide’ due to damp conditions!

Here is a link to a news article with some pics of the event:

http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2012/shop-for-cure-event-22-04-12.php

In fact, everyone thought the day went so well, we are holding another at the same venue on November 18th 2012- so please do put it in your diary for the opportunity of some fabulous Christmas pressies! We even think we'll be able to arrange a visit from Santa!!! 

Here are some more pics taken on the day!

Swish the Clown (twitter aka @TauntonJams) proved his stamina with examples of his party dances!

Our Tombola stall was generously supported - thanks to everyone who bought tickets!

Another twitter friend, Jon from @LivnTheCream brought his vintage ice cream trike along (it wasn't the warmest day but we think that's a blue glove he's wearing and not a really cold hand!)

Group members and young helpers with the Mayor and Mayoress Michael and Maria Clarke who opened the event

Once again, many many thanks to everyone who helped make the event happen.

Maybe see you at our next one in November?

Celebrating 15 Years

Christine Cutting The Cake



The Somerset Group was formed in 1997 by Christine & John Piper, Ann Carr and Anne Whaley.                         

The idea of the group was Christine's’ after she saw Sir Ranulph Fiennes on the television talking about his attempt to walk across Antarctica in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer and this was her inspiration, as well as the fact that Christine’s mother had breast cancer in the very early sixties, plus Christine has had Breast Cancer twice.  Fellow group member Susie Loosley, who has been with the group for 14 years, is also a survivor of breast cancer.

Christine Piper, Chair of the group says “We have had loads of fun over the years fundraising for Breakthrough Breast Cancer to help and support their work to achieve a future free from the fear of breast cancer. We’ve met some wonderful people, from our first ever event with a group of children from St Mary’s Church in Berrow when we set off 100 pink Balloons, to a Tug of War at Burnham Rugby Club, Wicked Women Evenings, Quiz Nights, Golf Events and we even did the Moonwalk! Plus lots, lots more. 
Our most memorable was our “Twist on the Beach” in 2002 when we set a new Guinness World Record & people still talk about that event today!


2011 saw us achieve  the World's Largest Rugby Scrum at Burnham Rugby Club, when we broke the world record, but only for a short time. However, we achieved some lovely publicity for Breakthrough Breast Cancer in The Sun & Christine was even interviewed on Talksport by Paul Hawksbee and Andy Jacobs. We are attempting to do this event again this year and 2012 also sees our group holding our 4th Ball, which have been very successful and of course loads of fun!!
We are very lucky to have the support from Mayor & Mayoress Michael & Maria Clarke.

Throughtout our 15 years, we are very proud to have raised awareness of breast cancer in Somerset by supporting other events and giving talks. We are also VERY thankful for all the support we've received helping us fundraise over an incredible £300,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.  Christine says “ A huge thank you to everyone for their support for the last fifteen years and here’s to the next fifteen”!!
                       

We are very pleased to announce that Bernie Nolan (The Nolans Sisters) agreed to be The Somerset Breakthrough Breast Cancer group’s Patron...... Bernie sent this message...

“Congratulations to the Somerset Breakthrough Breast Cancer Group on your 15th Anniversary. Making and keeping people aware of early detection and of course raising money for much needed research is vital and you have done a wonderful job over the past 15 years.
Goodness knows how many lives have been prolonged if not saved through your amazing work.
With all out best wishes and Thanks from all of us Breast cancer survivors..     Bernie Nolan  XXXXX"  

Tessa Munt MP has supported our group for a number of years... 

“ The Somerset Breakthrough Breast Cancer Group are a truly wonderful group of people who have worked tirelessly over the last fifteen years, raising over £300,000 to help improve the situation of women and men with breast cancer in Somerset. I commend the important work they do to raise awareness of breast cancer and the support and morale boost they give to local people affected.   Tessa”

We as a group know about how breast cancer touches people. In April 2010 we lost group member Julie aged just 35yrs to breast cancer. Unfortunately Julie wasn’t aware of the different signs of breast cancer, so we designed a poster “Julie’s Legacy” which gives information about breast cancer.  We really do need to get the message out there, not only for Julie but for every woman & man.  48,000 women & 300 men are diagnosed each year this number has gone up since we formed our group in 1997 and this is very sad!!


We would like to say a very big Thank you to everyone everyone who has supported our events and also held your own to raise funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Chair of the Somerset group, Christine says “If there is anyone who would like to join our group,we would like to hear from you! Together, we’re joining a force of thousands of like-minded people across the UK working together with a single-minded ambition to stop women dying from breast cancer. We hope you’ll join us”

Without you we could not do our work and Breakthrough Breast Cancer could not do theirs so a BIG Thank you to you ALL!

Here's a link to article on Burnham-on-Sea.com 
http://www.burnham-on-sea.com/news/2012/cancer-group-anniversary-13-03-12.php

How Can You Help?

As much as you want to!

Awareness goes hand in hand with fund raising, so the fact you are reading this sentence is already helping!

However, many people would like to become more active supporters of Breakthrough but don't really know where to start... well here are a few ways you could help our Somerset group no matter how much time or energy you have.

If you're a fan of social networks then please follow us on Twitter (@BreakthroughSom) or join our Facebook page - both are great ways to stay in touch for news and details of future events. Sharing our links on Facebook and retweeting the odd Twitter post will help us reach more people across Somerset and beyond - we promise not to clog anyone’s timeline and appreciate every #FF!  :)

Apart from staying in touch on-line, we are always looking for shops, restaurants and bars that might have room for a pink ribbon badge box on the counter. We're already grateful to many establishments in Somerset who sell Breakthrough pink ribbon pin badges for us or have our collection tins handy for spare change – but the more the merrier and it all helps!

A number of loyal supporters hold coffee mornings and bake sales for us once a year – perfect examples of simple events that enables Breakthrough Breast Cancer to perform its crucial ground breaking research that is really making a difference.

A Pamper Event!

Maybe you might consider holding a traditional bingo evening, or a cerebral quiz night? We’ve even held a few raunchy ladies nights where good times were had by all ;)

Ladies Night 2011

For the last two years we’ve held a Christmas raffle to coincide with our Ball, so raffle prizes such as bottles of wine or hampers for example would be an ideal donation. If you live near a group member and can spare a prize or even just sell a few tickets then it all helps, it really does.

And talking of our Ball (held near Weston-super-Mare), it really is the highlight of our year, so if you’ve never been then please do consider it, but contact us early as tickets are limited and normally go fast!

Moulin Rouge Ball 2009

Do you have any influence with an established sporting club that attracts larger crowds? Maybe you’d be able to arrange for a few members of our small group to attend a game one day, with a stall or simply just collection buckets/tins?

Another great help are the items and services that are donated each year for our annual Ball auction. If you know of a celebrity or famous sports person who could help, whether it is free tickets, a signed item, or something amazing like a “money-can’t-buy” studio tour experience, it would be wonderful if you could get in touch.

Signed Andrew Strauss Pictures!

We are always looking for places with changing rooms such as shops, leisure centres, swimming pools etc to display A5 posters of Julie’s Legacy:

http://somersetbreastcancer.blogspot.co.uk/2011_02_01_archive.html


Julie’s Legacy was launched in February 2011, in conjunction with Breakthrough’s TLC campaign, in memory of much loved group member Julie Selway. The message is simple but not commonly known – like Julie, you do NOT need to find a lump to be diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  Please get in touch if you can display a poster in a suitable place. If we save just one life it will be worth it.

Many small local sporting clubs raise awareness and funds for us (and themselves) by holding race nights, poker evenings or skittles competitions – these are a great idea as it raises our profile among their younger male members who may not have Breakthrough on their radar.  Although rare, 300 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK.

In addition to GO PINK events in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we also organise a number of awareness events throughout the year, such as the world’s biggest rugby scrum and the twist on the beach, so if you see us out and about then please do come along and say hello!

191 person scrum! May 2011

If the above ideas have whetted your appetite for helping Breakthrough, maybe you would even consider joining our group to help us plan all our events and make an even bigger difference!

We are actively seeking another 3 or 4 people, men or women, who are able to attend our meetings on the 1st Wednesday of each month. The group is based in Burnham-on-Sea where we generally hold our meetings, but as a few members live in Portishead & Bridgwater, we also hold the occasional meeting away from Burnham to freshen it up and share the travelling.

Meetings start at 7:30pm and finish before 10pm. The atmosphere is always friendly & informal, and with less than 10 members it shouldn’t be too daunting for any new faces. A warm welcome awaits...  :)

Christine & John Piper started the Somerset group back in 1997, and are extremely proud that after 15 years the group has raised over £300,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. But this has only been possible with the help and support of so many great people & businesses of our county, so a very sincere THANKYOU goes out to everyone who has helped make a difference over the years!!

Celebrating 15 years in March 2012

But no laurels are being rested upon, so if any of these suggestions interest you, or if you have any other ideas that you think may be suitable, please do email Christine Piper and/or Somerset Group or tel 01278 793870 to discuss them in more detail.  
We’d love to hear from you!

Of course, as a small regional group of Breakthrough, we can’t be too ambitious with our events, so if you fancy a more challenging experience while supporting our valuable cause, Breakthrough HQ are always organising a mountain to climb or a perfectly good airplane to jump out of!!
Just check out www.breakthrough.org.uk  and you’ll find more national challenges than you can shake a stick at!

Breast cancer touches the lives of far too many people, but with your help we can continue to work towards a future free from the fear of this awful disease. 

Thank you for reading... and keep smiling :)

Contact :  christinepiper@sky.com   01278 793870    or    somersetbreakthrough@gmail.com 

A Fantastic Night at the Captains Table

                        

Well... what can we say other than a huge THANKYOU to the 240 guests and countless supporters for making our third annual Ball such a success and helping us raise £2,896 for Breakthrough!

However, we don’t just measure success in terms of fundraising – for us, a key aspect of the Ball has always been how much our guests enjoy themselves, and based on feedback so far, this year’s bash did not disappoint. We couldn’t have done it without the help and support of many kind people, so once again... THANKYOU!!

Below is a sprinkling of photos from the evening to give you a taste of how it went - hopefully we'll be adding more soon once they've been organised so you can see more of the ball, our members and wonderful

supporters!

Becky, Anna and Christine help Captain John Piper steer a course to a fab evening.



The hall at the Batch looked wonderful as usual



The sweety bar didn't stay this tidy for long!



The Sharm el-Sheikh table all ready, with central fishbowl, calendars & pens for guests, and destination trivia for our intrepid globe trotters

Many tables had candelabra

We had an authentic ships bell to bring the crew and guests to order

The auction went well, with the signed Shane Warne cricket ball and signed Bristol City shirt both generating plenty of bids

One of our glamorous showgirls helped Captain John Piper welcome everyone

Group members Holly M and Holly B with Tessa Munt MP who has supported us over many years

The dancefloor is never empty with the Riverbrew playing

Party time!

Holly M and Holly B looking out for "hot pirates" apparently...

Gunge and Iaine looking fairly respectable in their dickie bows

Fear not, for the good Motorised Ship Breakthrough is in excellent hands... "Iceberg!"

Yearly Total 2010 to 2011

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

We are thrilled to announce our BEST EVER year for fundraising!

Our total for August 2010 to July 2011 was an incredible

£28,747.72p

This amazing amount could not have been achieved without the magnificent support we’ve received, so a very big THANK YOU to everyone!

It’s been a busy year with the Dance on the Beach, the Guys & Dolls Ball, the Guinness World Record Scrum Attempt, a race night, pamper nights, a sky dive, fun runs and cake bakes, plus many more events too numerous to mention.

It’s simply impossible to list the names of all our supporters (many prefer donations to remain private) but whether it was dropping some silver into a collection box, attending our charity ball or jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, this fantastic figure represents awesome generosity from all our friends and supporters.

Although raising money is a key part of any charity, raising AWARENESS is very important for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, so all the events and activities over the last twelve months go even further towards our goal:

“a future free from the fear of breast cancer”

And a major part of raising awareness this past year has been the launch of Julie’s Legacy, as part of the TLC Campaign (Touch, Look, Check) in memory of group member Julie Selway who lost her battle with breast cancer in April 2010 aged 35.  

Very special thanks go to everyone who helped with Julie’s Legacy.

If you've not yet done so, please check out the link to Julie's Legacy below.

http://somersetbreastcancer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/julies-legacy.html 

Once again, THANK YOU!

Amazing Support at Race Night

Our first ever race night was a huge success!

Well, what can we say... other than a magnificent THANK YOU to everyone who supported us on our race night at Bar 27 in Bridgwater on Friday July 8th! 

An awesome total of £960.55 was raised for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, plus everyone had a great time!

  

Pink Pamper July 2011

As well as enjoying a wonderful evening sampling treats, trinkets and treatments, more than £200 was raised for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Thanks to everyone who supported the event, and especially Kirsty Macinnes and Kate Presely for organising it!