Cancer Support France

Both our National and Local Associations are busy planning events for World Cancer Day.

At National, our online quiz is taking shape. This will be held on 4th February, from 14:00 to 16:00 and will feature the quiz, tea, cakes and much more (you’ll be glad to hear that the tea and cakes will not be virtual).

For more information, or to register for the event, please contact Penny at:

To make a donation, please go to our Alvarum page at: www.alvarum.com/cancersupportfrancewcd

All donations will be ring-fenced to provide training for our Active Listeners, who are our lifeblood.

There are also more details on our National Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cancersupportfrance/ and in the last news item below this one.

Cancer Research UK has shared how they have updated their information on Mental Health Care and Cancer with one of our Partners, the International Cancer Information Service Group (ICISG). Follow the link here to read the update.

Movember comes but once a year – and the time is almost upon us; and although this may be the time when we see a lot more gentlemen sporting moustaches of all shapes and sizes, there’s also a lot more to the goings-on during the month as well. Although this is a past event, find out all you need to know about future ‘Movember’ updates at:  Movember – Changing the face of men’s health – Movember

We have just completed a new poster to advertise ourselves with different media outlets. It includes our new logo and a QR code that takes people direct to our website, together with some other enhancements. Here is a sneak preview of the poster. The first public appearance will be in the next issue of the Connexion, due out in early September.

Ian Salvage – August 2023

Every October, the colour pink appears in many villages and towns in France to herald the arrival of Pink October (Octobre Rose), the breast cancer awareness month. The pink ribbon shown is something you will see many people wearing, as well as pink T-shirts; pink posters; pink banners…

Events also run in the whole of France to raise awareness about breast cancer, educate people about risk factors and lifestyle changes, encourage regular breast screening, and raise funds for breast cancer research – causes, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and possible cures.

Breast cancer awareness provides the preliminary stage for preventing the disease from severely affecting a person’s life.

The charity Breast Cancer Now is encouraging everyone to wear pink on 22 October, this year (2023) to raise money and raise awareness. Although this is a past event, there are many details about future Pink October events at: https://www.wearitpink.org/about/

Watch out for events happening near you. A good site to gather further information about Octobre Rose is the La ligue webpage here: – https://octobre-rose.ligue-cancer.net 

Margaret York – August 2023

It does what it says – but what does that mean? Their mission is to put one veteran in front of another – to end the social isolation that so many veterans feel when they leave the ‘family’ they have known and lived among for so many years. Social isolation is a predominant factor in poor mental health and suicide in Armed Forces Veterans. For some, it is a chance to reminisce, but for others it is a lifeline. AFVBCs allow veterans to stay connected to their military psyche, be part of the family they lost, ending any isolation they feel so that leavers do not feel cast adrift in a world they have not experienced.

In France there are currently seven of these clubs. Three of these have joined forces to organise an event on Saturday 24^th June for Armed Forces Day.

At this event, AFVBC are kindly raising funds for Cancer Support France – because we are a cause close to their hearts as they are, or should be, to ours.  Therewill be a chance for us to explain our work on our own stand. However, to run the stand we need volunteers – an hour or two hours would make such a difference as there is currently only one person available.

The AFVBC branches concerned cover the areas of Aquitaine, Charente and Dordogne, so this could be used as an opportunity for local Associations to find new volunteers and supporters at this event and to get our message out to a wider audience.

If you could help on the day, please contact our President through her email address on our ‘Contact Us‘ page on the website.

Sue Smith – June 2023

‘I love Paris in the springtime…’ goes the song. We were certainly blessed with a magnificent springtime when we held the first National Cancer Support France Presidents’ Conference in May.

The conference, which was opened by Mrs Pamela Deegan, Consular Regional Operations Manager, was held in the ballroom of the British Ambassador’s residence, a beautiful oasis of calm in the capital city. Delegates from ten of our Affiliated Associations, along with the National Bureau held workshops and discussions over two half-days.

We were able to build on the good relationships between Associations with discussions ranging from partnerships and marketing plans, skills-sharing, future planning, general data protection regulations and how we support our volunteers, amongst other subjects.

Our facilitator, who had a background in medical publications and marketing, ably kept us on track in both subject and timings, and our speakers and session leaders produced interesting and thought-provoking sessions. There was also a presentation from Consular Services by staff from the British Consulates of Paris, Bordeaux and Marseille and the information shared between us and them, and the links we have forged, will help us in going forward with our Association’s future.

On the evening of the first day of the conference, we were invited to a reception by Dame Menna Rawlings, the British Ambassador to France and her husband Mark, in the wonderful gardens of the official Residence. Dame Menna addressed those present with a kind and supportive speech recognising the work that we, and all our volunteers do to support vulnerable English-speakers in France. We even had a mention on Twitter! Menna Rawlings tweeted, “Proud to support Cancer Support France, a dedicated group of volunteers who support English-speakers in France, affected by cancer. Thank you to Sue and the Team for all you do.”

The Conference was closed by Mr Theo Rycroft, Minister and Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy, who echoed Dame Menna’s kind words and thanked us again for the work that we all do.

My thanks, and also from all of all those present, have been passed officially to Dame Menna and indeed, to all the team at the British Embassy, the Ambassador’s Residence and Consular Services for their kind welcome and their support of Cancer Support France.

Sue Smith – May 2023