Celebrating Volunteers’ Week

Jennifer was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013. The treatment she underwent included a chemotherapy drug, cisplatin, which Cancer Research UK scientists helped to develop. In 2017, Jennifer joined Cancer Research UK as one of our media volunteers. 

“Without the kind of research which led to cisplatin, I might not have been here today. I want to give people hope – there is life after cancer. I had a lot of spare time on my hands post-cancer. Because I was given a second chance after my cancer diagnosis, I felt very lucky so really wanted to give something back.” 

Jennifer has since supported with a wide variety of campaigns and awareness requests. This has included promoting Race for Life through regional and local media in Northern Ireland, where she’s based, telling her story as part of our Early Diagnosis campaign, and appearing in our Christmas Appeal. 

“I wanted to try and help as many people as possible by sharing my story. One of my favourite moments was getting photographed at a photo shoot in my local park - I felt like a model for the day! Volunteering means a lot to me because I find it a very rewarding thing to do. Raising awareness in whatever way I can is my way of standing up to cancer.”

The Paisley Superstore has over 30 dedicated volunteers of all ages, giving almost 300 hours of their valuable time every week.

John (pictured to the left) has been part of the team in Paisley since September 2022, and is an expert on children’s toys – from checking toys are suitable to sell, to pricing, to displaying these on the shop floor. On what he enjoys most about volunteering, John said, “Having the opportunity to be part of a team that is helping develop new treatments for cancer. Without volunteers, the shop would not be as successful in reaching their goals."

Laurence (pictured to the right) joined the team in May 2018, following an early retirement from local government where he worked as a Senior Operations Manager. 

“We volunteers have been treated with so much love and respect that we have become one large family. We’re all just so close and supportive. When I volunteer, I love coordinating sing-songs and dancing in the store, often to the amusement of customers. We appreciate some may be in the store having experienced cancer tragedy of their own, but our happy atmosphere has gone a long way to put some sparkle into all our lives. 

“Being in such a caring environment is an integral part of my identity, and I hope to be volunteering for many years to come. Long may we continue and quickly get cancer booted-out!” 

Dedicated fundraising volunteer, Annie, started the annual Ladies’ Tractor Road Run back in 2004. The event sees women come together, dressed in pink, to ride a convoy of tractors through Suffolk and Norfolk for breast cancer research. As a member of local tractor clubs which often organised fundraising events for men, Annie was inspired to organise an event for women. 

“When we had done the first Run, we actually had 50 ladies, and the reaction at the end of that was ‘Wow Annie, you’ve got to do this again.’ And so here we are, 21 years later.”    

Annie and the ‘Pink Ladies’ have since raised over £1.1 million. Their success is a testament to Annie’s year-round dedication and commitment to organising the entire event. “We had a hugely successful run last year. We had 201 ladies taking part on 195 tractors – imagine that on the road!!   

“Some of these ladies have had breast cancer, some of them know people who have. They go out there and raise the money, they also have other events, which they run themselves to put towards the Pink Ladies. The sheer enthusiasm of these ladies, they’re remarkable."

Annie has also compiled a book, ‘The Pink Ladies’, all about the Run, full of photographs, and many stories from entrants, crew and breast cancer survivors. 

"I think my favourite part, looking back over the years, is having met so many lovely people. That’s what inspires me and that’s one of the most rewarding things - meeting all these wonderful people.” 

This year’s Ladies’ Tractor Road Run is taking place on Sunday 7 July. “Having reached our million, as we have often said, cancer hasn’t gone away. We still have to raise the money, whether we’ve got to our million or not.”

"I volunteered at the cheer point for the Great Manchester Run. We had around 975 runners taking part for Cancer Research UK on the day and we were positioned so that we could cheer them on at the 1k mark as well as 400m from the finish – it was brilliant to see so many of them at both points, telling them how fantastic they were for finishing the run!

There were some props available to assist with the cheering, including jazzy scarves, inflatable cheering sticks and foam fingers to use as we stood atop the vintage bus. There was a great range of volunteers on the day, from a university student who was volunteering while on exchange from the USA, to a retired man who was volunteering for the first time with Cancer Research UK having lost his wife to cancer six years ago. He said the day had been incredible, he’d loved every second of it. We spoke about how we find these days quite emotional, having both participated in races as well as cheering on loved ones at marathons over the years, and agreed that the most special part is the joy you get from the connection between supporters and runners.  

Every time a runner looked up and smiled, waved or gave us a thumbs up, it was a lovely feeling. As they were passing us at the 400m to go mark, we all made the effort to shout ‘well done, you are so brilliant’ to as many Cancer Research UK runners as we could see. It felt like they really appreciated us being there, taking the time to spot them in the crowd and shout their name, and that it contributed to their special day."

"With Volunteers’ Week on the horizon and armed with a box of chocolates as a small way to say thank you, I visited the Cancer Research UK Cornhill shop in Bury St Edmunds on Friday morning. It’s a small shop, so it was just me, the Shop Manager, Gail, and her regular Friday morning volunteer, Sue (pictured to the left), who started volunteering 10 years ago and now does two half day shifts a week.

The shop has the support of about 10 volunteers a week who donate 44 hours of time between them. The shop was looking forward to welcoming a new volunteer that week for a taster session. I also got to hear about a volunteer who turns 80 this year and last year completed a sponsored tandem skydive to raise money for the charity!   

The morning flew by! The shop is brilliantly organised and has a lovely relaxed and happy atmosphere with lots of regular customers and donors. I, (of course!), found a couple of things to buy and really enjoyed helping out with tagging and sizing a big pile of donated items!"

"On Sunday 2 June I volunteered at Horsham Race for Life. I was entrusted with the role of Admin Manager, which meant I was in the enquiries tent, helping participants with getting new race numbers, sign ups on the day, and taking donations. This was a brilliant opportunity to speak to lots of Cancer Research UK supporters, hear their stories, and really see the motivations behind getting involved in Race for Life. 

During the morning, I met a range of volunteers, including my fellow admin volunteer who commits her time once a year at Horsham Race for Life. It was lovely to get to know her, and reassuring to have someone with me who knew what they were doing! 

I met other dedicated volunteers, including several who travel around the area to get involved in as many Cancer Research UK events as possible (some had been in Windsor the day before!). Everyone was extremely friendly, coming up to my tent to say hello and offer support. When speaking to the Events Manager, she told me that these events quite literally could not run without the dedication of these people – and I witnessed this with my own eyes. 

Horsham Race for Life is one of our smaller events, but still raised £39,669! The atmosphere was brilliant and felt really inclusive – participants of all ages were there, and I even brought my dog Pluto along to help out. I really enjoyed it and will certainly be getting involved again in future."

"This year, I spent a lovely couple of hours enjoying a coffee and a wonderful chat with one of our fantastic Campaigns Ambassadors, Vicky, to mark Volunteers' Week.  Having worked predominantly in shop volunteering for the last few years, I was intrigued to know more about the Campaigns Ambassador role and what it entailed. So, when I found out Vicky lived locally to me, I jumped at the chance to meet up! 

Vicky (pictured to the right) has been an ambassador for 4 years, and even continued the role when she moved from Buckinghamshire to Cambridgeshire – and still fits this in on top of, not one but two, demanding roles within the NHS, and a busy home life with two lovely teenage daughters. She explained that the beauty of the ambassador role is that most actions are fairly quick, with most of it taking place online and therefore, time requirement is relatively minimal, which makes it easier to fit around existing commitments. 

Vicky has been involved in both lobbying her previous Buckinghamshire MP around bowel cancer screening, and around smoking legislation, past and present. Plus, she’s attended several of our pre-organised Parliament Days at the House of Commons to try and influence the cancer agenda along with our various other ambassador volunteers. It’s a role she seems to really enjoy – though she’s always on the look out for more Ambassador friends in the Peterborough/Cambridgeshire area! 

Vicky said: 'I am an ambassador in Peterborough, a role that has helped me come to terms with the death of my parents. It has helped me to feel I am making a difference in the fight against cancer, and has supported my bereavement through the care the charity offers to all their volunteers.'"