Marlene put on her usual wonderful New Year Buffet, the table groaned under the hot and cold dishes she had prepared for us all.
25^th Anniversary Celebration discussed again.

Venue arranged
Balloons and floral decorations in hand
Catering still to be organised
Donations of gifts for lucky ticket draw received
Invitations to be set out for our approval at next meeting.
Background/dance music organised

Pam reported that she believed we were the longest running breast cancer support group in the country – certainly something to celebrate!
A musically talented member of the group offered to put on a musical evening to raise money for sentinel node equipment at the Conquest.
A venue had been located, and the date was discussed before confirming the booking of the hall.

A lively meeting with lots of items presented to the group, some up for discussion, some informative and others just funny.
In addition to Pam attending the meeting, Frances was also able to join us and we took part in a survey she needed for some course work.

Pam asked if all members now had their plastic cards to carry around with them. This card came about as a result of queries sometimes arising when attending hospital/doctors for blood tests, injections, blood pressure recordings etc. It explains that the bearer has undergone surgery to remove glands in the right/left arm pit and are at increased risk of developing lymphoedema, and therefore, that arm should be avoided when carrying out those procedures.

One member announced that her daughter was going to take part in a trek along the Great Wall of China, for Cancer Research, this October, and needed to raise at least £3,500 sponsorship before doing so. Various events are being organised both locally and at the college in London where she works. Locally a barn dance has been organised for 25^th February and members were invited to come along if they wished.

Another member, who, with her husband make up the performing duo "No Discrimination" has arranged an evening of 60’s and 70’ s music and dance. This event will take place on Saturday 8^th April, at the Arthur Easton Centre, Hastings. Tickets can be bought at the door £2.50, all proceeds will go towards sentinel node equipment for the Conquest Hospital. Members took home advertising posters for this event and tickets to sell.

Our treasurer announced that a cheque had been received from Travelling Trends, this was commission made at our last fashion show, October 2005.

• Two styles of invitations were presented, and three options for buffet food for the evening were put to the group to choose which they preferred.
• A cake had been organised.
• It was agreed that invites would now be printed and sent out before the March meeting.
• Various companies and organisations connected with breast cancer had either been contacted, or were going to be, with a view to mentioning our anniversary in their literature.
• Several local businesses and companies had donated gift for a prize draw on the night

• An article in the latest Breast Cancer Care newsletter. Breast Cancer Care are working with Boots photographic dept to try to photograph 41,000 faces of breast cancer patients and their carers for their October literature 2006. It was suggested that maybe as a group we could be photographed.
• News from a member who moved away just before Christmas
• News that one of our friends has had surgery, and that flowers have been sent from us all.
• An embroidered copy of our 1066 logo, for approval, so that it can be used on t shirts etc
• The latest copies of Nicola Jane Mastectomy Wear catalogue..
• A cancer related talk to be held locally on March 13^th.
• And some amusing items provided by one of our group who regularly entertains us with humorous emails from friends around the world.

April meeting

Not such a big turn out, it being held during Easter week, but we welcomed three new members to the group.
Our Spring 2006 newsletter was handed out.

25^th Anniversary Party
Final arrangements for 25^th anniversary party discussed. Pam awaiting some replies for final numbers, and was pleased to announce that one of the originators of the group, who had since moved away had accepted her invitation and was looking forward to attending.. Two members had worked very hard obtaining gifts for a prize draw on the night. They set themselves the target of achieving 25, but had in fact exceeded this! Thanks were given for their efforts

"No Discrimination"
The performing group "No Discrimination", led by one of our members, held their fundraising evening on Sat 8^th April, which was a success and enjoyed by all who attended. £142 profit was raised for sentinel node equipment. Pam thanked everyone for their efforts and gave a special thanks to the girls from Lisa Carmen School of dance who performed during the interval.

Catalogues (See our Spring 06 Newsletter for more details)
New catalogues from Contura Belle, Oops and Downes and Eloise were brought along by a member, who promised regular supplies of up to date catalogues as they came out. She and another member of the group had also travelled to London to sample Breast Cancer Care’s free fitting service for prostheses, and reported back to the rest of the group. Both were thrilled with the service they received, and have also reported back to the Conquest hospital on their findings.
It was also reported that "Women’s-Zone" a company dealing in mastectomy bathing suits, will make up a swimming costume to meet individual needs including size, type of leg etc.

41,000 photographs
Some photographs were taken of members of the group who wish to participate in Breast Cancer Care’s project to get 41,000 photographs of women who have had breast cancer for their October 2006 literature. Boots Photographic Department are working alongside Breast Cancer Care on this project.

June Meeting

Another full meeting. As everyone gathered the talk was about our anniversary party on May 20^th and how much everyone had enjoyed it. Thanks were again given to those who helped with the organisation, it was generally agreed that it had been a successful evening and enjoyed by all. Photos of the event and a certificate presented to us by Breast Cancer Care were circulated for all to see. See next newsletter for full report.

Pam announced that

Dates of future events were also brought to the group

5^th October – Fashion show to be held at Education Centre, Conquest Hospital – open to all as a fundraiser for the group.
7/8^th October – stall at Priory Meadow Shopping Centre, Hastings – to make others aware of our existence.

Several members were taking part in Race for Life, Hastings on 18^th June, T shirts printed with our 1066pinkladies logo had been printed off and members tried to arrange to meet up at the event. Other member of the group had kindly given their support by way of sponsorship.

An interesting e-mail had been received about a group in Pathos, Cyprus who had just completed a record breaking event for chaining together 114,782 bras, measuring a distance of 111kms, the aim of the event to raise the awareness of breast cancer to the Cypriot population. See next newsletter for full report. It was agreed that we try to keep in contact and form a link with them.

One member told us of her recent experiences at a "Take That" concert and how she managed to still attend the event despite only just having finished her treatment, proving that there is still life even when dealing with cancer.

July meeting

A well attended meeting despite a very hot sticky evening. 24 of us including new members were welcomed into Marlene’s home.

Leone Wheeler, from Living Products brought along some of her Aloe Vera products and gave a short talk about them, and Aloe Vera in general. This led to an interesting discussion among members. Aloe Vera has been around a long while and it’s healing properties are well known, feedback from other members who have previously used these products was a good one.

Members were reminded of our Fundraising stall at Ninfield Carnival, Sat 15^th July, and encouraged to come along to support and help at the event.
Notice was given that our latest newsletter would be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances.
Photo’s of our Anniversary party were circulated for those who had previously missed them.

The remainder of the evening was spent chatting, getting to know new members, catching up with news and generally doing what we do best, supporting each other.

August meeting

Mid summer, and we thought a lot of people would be away, but this was still a well attended meeting welcoming one new member.

Our treasurer announced that due to expenses over the last year, our funds were running low. It was agreed by us all that we didn’t want to become a fundraising group, as our main aim was to give support to each other, but that we wouldn’t send anyone this year to the October Fashion Show in London, and that we would look into different ways of funding our newsletter and website, for instance looking for sponsorship for the website.

A sponsor form was handed round as both our Macmillan Breast Care nurses, Pam and Frances, were taking part in a 120ft abseil at Peacehaven, East Sussex on Aug 12^th raising money for both Macmillan and local children’s charity helping abused and underprivileged children.

Simple notices advertising our web site had been made up and Pam was going to put them up in the Hospital. It was also suggested that others be made up and sent out to all the doctor’s surgeries in the area.

It was decided that we needed to expand the "frequently asked questions" section of our site and members were asked to contribute questions. It was also suggested that we should maybe include an additional section for more personal questions on relationships that may otherwise go unanswered due to the nature of their intimacy; we felt that this could be of real use to others.

Marks and Spencer are now selling post surgery wear at certain stores, our nearest being Bluewater, Dartford and Marble Arch, London – more details about this is the summer newsletter.

Members of the group volunteered to man the now annual stall that we put up for 1 weekend, each October in Priory Meadow Shopping Centre. We hoped to have more T-shirts to hand out to the public, along with breast cancer awareness leaflets, badges from Breast Cancer Care and Christmas cards from Cancer BACUP.

Our Summer newsletter was handed out.

September Meeting

Due to unforeseen circumstances this meeting had to be moved to the Oncology Unit at the Conquest Hospital, it was a different experience as all our other meetings are held in member’s homes. A large number of people turned up, including three new members, and once we had settled into the waiting room with a cup of coffee and started our meeting, it took on its usual intimacy. At the end though, most of us agreed that although it had been a good meeting, it was nicer to be able to meet away from the hospital, especially for people who were still undergoing treatment.

100 tickets had been printed for our Fashion Show, to be held in the Education Centre, Conquest Hospital on Thursday, October 5^th. Pam had advertised the event around the hospital and members took tickets either for themselves or to sell to friends and family.
This is one of our annual fundraising and fun events. Tickets this year cost £3 and can be purchased at the door on the evening of the event; this cost includes a glass of wine/fruit juice on entry. A different company, Catwalk Connections, will be running the show, but the content will be similar, with clothes from major High Street stores shown at reduced prices, there will be clothes for women and children, (sorry, nothing for the men) and this year jewellery and a few accessories are included. We will again supply our own models and after the show there will be ample opportunity to buy clothing there and then, cash, plastic and cheques all welcome! We will also of course be running a raffle.

Breakthrough Breast Cancer are again organising their Westminster Fly-in, a 2 day event, on October 23/ 24 instructing people on how to use and liaise with the media, meet local MP’s and put forward local issues. Two members showed an interest in attending the meeting and took information home with them.

Pam pointed out the latest Breast Cancer Care Newsletter, containing not only items available in the High Street this October supporting their cause but also an article on Sentinel Node Biopsy. As money had been raised locally for equipment at the Conquest, we were all keen to hear more about this and the fact that members of the breast team were being sent on training to use it; the Conquest being the only hospital in Sussex doing this. A new member to the group said that she had experienced this treatment in London.
At the moment whilst undergoing surgery for breast cancer, patients sometimes have lymph nodes removed to check if there are any signs of cancerous cells within them. The sentinel nodes are the first lymph nodes next to the breast, using the new equipment these lymph nodes would be tested and if there were no signs of cancer cells, further surgery would not be needed to clear them. As many patients who have experienced the removal of lymph nodes know, this can lead to slight problems, but with tests using this equipment, these could be eliminated.

A photograph of Pam abseiling down the cliffs was circulated, she and Frances raised £320 and a total of £32,000 was raised over the weekend for this event. Pam thanked everyone who had supported them, including the Royal Artillery chappies who had literally "supported them" as they ventured down the cliff.

December Meeting

This meeting had more of a Christmas party feel to it, with mulled wine, mince pies and various other nibbles. We also played a couple of games, Pass the Parcel and Reverse Bingo and had crackers to pull. It was a full house again, which was surprising having had to change the date and it being so near to Christmas, but we all had a lovely evening together.

Because the meeting took on this format, there is nothing much to report, another new member joined us, but the evening was very informal with plenty of chance for members to talk to each other and offer support.

At the end of the meeting Pam reminded everyone that our next meeting (Jan 2007) would be a New Year’s buffet and not to eat before we went because Marlene always laid on such a wonderful feast of hot and cold dishes for us all.

We wish all our members and anyone reading this a good Christmas and more importantly a healthy New Year.