Pioneer Projects News

Looking Well Cancer Support Group - A new look for the new year - By Marie Knowles

The Looking Well Cancer Support Group is changing its drop in day from Monday to Thursday from 11 January. The new sessions will run from 11.00 am to 1.30 pm at Looking Well and will include occasional art sessions and individual complementary therapies followed by a shared lunch. There will be a cup of tea and a friendly welcome for those who just want to drop in for a chat. The sessions are open to anyone affected by cancer or other long term conditions and their friends and families.

Bentham’s Cancer Support Group begun at the surgery in 1995 as an initiative by Christine Hodson, the then Health Visitor. The late Marion Frost started a weekly session at Looking Well and it has continued with the driving force of the late Jean West both in Looking Well Cottage and now as a weekly drop in at Looking Well Studios. We offer reduced rate complementary therapies for people facing cancer and their families.

The group successfully lobbied for a Macmillan nurse in Craven and are part of the Yorkshire Cancer Network and the User group at Airedale Hospital. There are strong links with Slynedales and St John’s Hospice who have given advice and support. Every year, members attend the National Conference of Cancer Support Groups in Manchester with support from the Bentham Surgery Extra Care Fund.

None of this would have been possible without the time given by volunteers and the kind donations from local people. We still need more volunteers for our new Thursday session so if anyone would like to help by welcoming people and helping to prepare lunch please get in touch with Marie on 64947 or our chair Margaret Hayton on 61900.

Update on Looking Well Studios - our new building

We are enjoying being in our amazing new premises.  It has been refurbished by local tradesmen and the high standard of their work is a pleasure. Unlike our old building, it is full of light and very warm. We have incorporated as many environmentally friendly systems as possible including a solar panel, high levels of recycled paper insulation and a wood pellet fuelled boiler. The boiler has travelled from the CzechRepublic, via Denmark to Bentham. Pioneer Projects is living up to its name as it is the first of its kind in the UK. Thank you to all those people in Bentham and beyond who have given time and money to help us achieve this.

There are lots of ways you can make use of our stunning new building. Our current programme of activities is listed in the Whats on Now section of the Looking Well page. We have recently started an  Sunday afternoon tea  club for older people and a Saturday  theatre and arts club for children. Come and have a look and tell us what new activities you would like to do.

 If you are looking for a venue for serviced business meetings or an exhibition, our first floor studio might suit you. The small business units are comfortable and will be fully equipped, including one that can be used as a therapy/treatment room and are available to hire by the session, day or month. You may like to sign up as a ‘Friend of Looking Well’ or volunteer to help with creative or administrative aspects of running the charity. You are welcome to come and visit, we are open every weekday 10.30 to 3.30 pm.

ACTIVATE Project

A project funded by Sport England to widen the involvement of people in physical activity.

In Bentham we are taking the first steps. FiZZiKal provides lively dance, aerobics and gymnastics sessions for young women and girls.

Moving Well supports gentler activities for women of all ages – swimming, exercise to music, stretching, Tai Chi, walking, gardening – and is working to make it easier for women to access whatever exercise they choose.

In Skipton, the Activate project supports people in the Broughton Road area in accessing the opportunites available and in making links with other communities through physical activity. We are looking for ways to make it easier for women, for groups and for families to feel comfortable and confident in exploring the Yorkshire Dales so that more of us can celebrate our connection with the area in which we live.