I’m really chuffed to announce that Gemma, Landlady at the Archer, has agreed to nominate Headcases as their Charity of the Month for May 2024. All change that the regulars put into our shaker box will go into our funds. Once during May we can also hold a raffle in the pub to boost the money raised. If anyone has ideas for a good raffle prize, please drop me a line.

The Archer is one of the oldest pubs in the area dating back to 1790. After a number of name changes the pub is back to its original name and boasts some excellent historical drawings inside. A community pub offering a warm welcome and friendly service from Gemma and her team. There are a good selection of Hopback and other beers, and the weekly Quiz night on a Sunday usually sees a packed house.

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I was chatting with one of our friends last night at our April meeting. He’s noticed significant hearing loss after his treatment and has recently been prescribed free NHS hearing aids. He was very enthusiastic about the difference they made. As a wearer of hearing aids myself, I can relate very well to what he said.

This subject hasn’t come up before, so I thought it might help to link to a Macmillan article on the topic.

Hearing loss can lead on to social isolation, depression and even contribute to the onset of dementia, so if you feel you may have hearing loss or tinnitus, please don’t ignore it! Speak to your CNS, doctor or an audiologist and get the ball rolling.

Macmillan Article

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One of our Headcases friends brought flyers for this concert next Saturday at Central Hall, The Strand, Longton.

Charity collection for Stoke Air Ambulance, and special guests: Stafford Grammar Concert Band.

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Hi all. It seems like about 5 minutes since the last meeting! Since then we have bought and delivered 1000 business cards to the CNS team at Royal Stoke. We’re in the process of sourcing some additional Restaurant Cards too.

I was asked about wheelchair access to the Longton and Meir British Legion. There IS access via a ramp and double doors at the back of the small carpark attached to the club. The doors can only be opened from within by asking at the bar.

Hope to see you all on Wednesday. In the meantime enjoy your Easter Monday even if it is a bit soggy (again).

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We had a great turnout for this meeting, including three professionals from the Hospital and a guest from Severn Health who joined us on a fact finding mission to talk directly to patients about their various needs both during and after treatment. A quick count-up showed around 30 attended: patients, carers and professionals. The room started out a bit chilly, as the heating was only turned on as we arrived, but with all the conversations breaking out, this was soon forgotten.

We were pleased to welcome several folk coming along for the first time. This is always the hardest step. Most of our new friends become regular visitors to Headcases. It’s a very informal night out, usually with no fixed agenda so if tiredness sets in it’s ok to leave when you feel like it.

Next meeting is Wednesday 6th March at 19.30. If any guest speakers are arranged in the meantime, I’ll keep you posted.

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Hi all,

Just a quick reminder that we’re back on regular meetings again on first Wednesday of each month. Hope to see you all there…

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Despite cold, wet weather we had a great turnout for our Christmas Party Night. It was good to welcome so many of our friends from the Hospital too. We had a couple visiting Headcases for the first time – in at the deep end you might say!

Thank you all for the amazing quantity and variety of raffle prizes. In all, the Raffle took well over an hour to complete. Our thanks to Bob from the Legion for officiating on the Raffle, and calling the traditional pre-buffet Bingo games.

Wendy provided some fabulous ceramics for prizes, including a 12 piece Portmeiron set which we decided to auction. This raised £55.00 and together with the raffle tickets raised well over £200 for Headcases funds. Exact figures pending, as we need to deduct catering and Bingo prizes.

Here’s some photos of the evening showing the Raffle prizes, the Buffet and the folk enjoying proceedings. It was one of the latest finishes I can remember, with the last of us leaving after 11.00 pm!

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to our friends who were too poorly to come along last night.

A Merry Christmas, and a healthy, happy New Year to all. See you at our February meeting. Don’t forget we skip the January meeting.

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Here’s something to whet your appetite! Fred has baked one of his wonderful cakes for the night…

Please don’t forget to bring along your raffle prizes on the night. See you on Wednesday!

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After some consideration, we have set the date for this show for first of December. We’ll meet up in the lobby bar at around 6.30.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

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We had around 18 friends at this meeting, and three guests from the Hospital: Jacqueline, Hannah and Donna.

Donna Rave introduced herself as a new member of the team – she is the Cancer Navigator and her role is to co-ordinate and act as a single point of contact when getting in touch with the Head and Neck Department. The Clinical Nurse Specialists are busy with clinics most of the time, and so in the past, getting in touch often involved leaving voicemails. Donna is based in the office, and will usually be available to pick up your calls.

Jacqui explained about a new Thyroid Remote Monitoring  service for patients having treatment for thyroid cancers. This is most suitable for patients with a good prognosis (radio iodine treatment).

Yvonne is running the service, and it is designed to cut down on patient hospital visits. This then frees up the consultants to see more urgent cases. One of the main features of the Remote system is the use of blood testing, with Yvonne communicating the results to patients.

Lisa brought along a great selection of her crafts for us to admire and buy, I hope the Winter Makers Fair on Saturday at the Dudson Centre was a great success.

Jacqui presented the group with a range of samples courtesy of Oralieve. Their products can help with dry mouth and other oral symptoms arising from treatment.

Thank you to all those who brought raffle prizes for our Christmas Raffle. This will be held at our Party Night on Wed 6th December. We will be doing our own catering for this event, so you can expect a good selection of buffet food on the night.

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