THE WORLD’S BIGGEST COFFEE MORNING

Macmillan’s Coffee Morning is a fundraising event where people all over the UK catch up over a cuppa and a slice of something delicious, and raise money to support people facing cancer. The event has taken place for the past 28 years, and has raised over £200million.

Caritas Anchor House invited members of the community, residents and staff to join in on coffee, cake and conversation. Our event theme was ‘Showstopper’, well known from the show ‘The Great British Bake Off’, which was an exciting way to get people involved, and encouraged some friendly competition!

The team who organised the event shared that, by hosting a coffee morning, they wanted to raise awareness of cancer, the support available, and ways of helping to prevent cancer. A resident had raised cancer as an important topic that they felt our community would benefit from hearing more about, and so the team felt a welcoming coffee morning was the best way to do that.

On the morning of the day, a group of 28 gathered together to discuss why it is important to better understand cancer, how to support those affected by it, and how to access support. We used our model of conversations used in our Your Space groups, where participants are encouraged to go around and share their thoughts, feelings and worries, and seek support and sharing from others.

A brilliant effort had been made by all, with a variation of cakes, loaves and homemade treats available – you could see the effort put into such a great cause. The cakes and treats looked amazing, and tasted even better! Two of the group were crowned ‘Star Baker’, for the best bake of the day.

Attendees shared that it had been an eye-opening morning, where they were able to learn more about those who we spend a lot of time with but don’t always know what’s going on. People were able to share how they had been affected by cancer, either personally or through a loved one. Some people realised that, though it’s a sensitive subject, it’s okay and important to have those types of conversations and access support.

There was a comfortable and enjoyable atmosphere, and a great way to bring people together to have meaningful conversations, over cake!