During Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Diamond Anniversary year they are asking supporters to help raise funds by donating jewellery they no longer need. Marie Curie Cancer Care is working in partnership with Laura Ashley to convert donations into more care for terminally ill patients.

Throughout the months of May, June and July 2008 all Marie Curie Shops and Laura Ashley stores will have a jewellery recycling collection box where supporters/customers can drop off their unwanted or broken jewellery to be recycled.

Any form of jewellery can be recycled, costume or valuable. Damaged jewellery can also be recycled.

Supporters can also recycle their unwanted jewellery by simply putting the jewellery in any envelope and address it to FREEPOST, Central Recycling. No stamp is needed as it is a Freepost address.

"Our relationship with Candis Club goes back to 1998, and over those eight years you have donated over £4 million - an incredible amount of money. This partnership is so very important to us," says Tom Hughes-Hallet, Chief Executive, Marie Curie Cancer Care.

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Every issue of Candis magazine contains heart-warming stories about the care and research that Candis Club members are helping to make possible.

From 2004 we are proud to have been able to:
* fund nursing for terminally-ill cancer patients across the UK, giving them the choice of dying at home, supported by their families
* fund the opening of the Candis laboratory at the Marie Curie Research Institute. This research team, headed by Dr Thomas Oelgeschläger, continues to conduct vital investigations into the transcription of genes
* support 10 Marie Curie hospices, which actively promote quality of life for people with cancer and provide support for their families, completely free
support hospice chefs, enabling them to cook individual, highly tailored and nutritious meals for patients
* fund bereavement support for patients' loved ones at Marie Curie hospices
* fund a project to provide Marie curie's expert hospice services at local hospitals in Northern Ireland.

Last year, Candis Club helped Marie Curie to pioneer a new and innovative project to improve the care that cancer patients are given within the community.

'NURSING IN THE 21ST CENTURY' is now underway, helping Marie Curie nurses to go about their work safely and securely, and ensuring that patients and their families get the help they need.

It focuses on two key areas:
Marie Curie nurses and their safety
As lone workers, Marie Curie nurses are often placed in vulnerable positions as they arrive, late at night, at remote houses or perhaps a block of inner city flats. A pioneering new communication system offers 24-hour support and a freephone helpline that allows the charity to keep in close contact with nurses throughout their shift, giving them security and their families peace of mind.

Increasing responsiveness to families
Marie Curie is continually looking at new and effective ways to ensure patients and their families get the help they need, when they need it. Typically, the charity's referral centre in South Wales deals directly with District Nurses, who act as mediators. Now, a new service has been set up that will enable families to talk directly to advisers at the centre, to request a nurse, receive advice on other care options or talk over their immediate worries.

NEW FROM OCTOBER 2006
This year, Candis Club is helping Marie Curie to provide Day care therapy for patients throughout the UK. Marie Curie typically delivers around 34,000 therapies a year to 1,700 patients in its 10 hospices and specialist Day Care Unit. If a patient attends on a weekly basis, Marie Curie Cancer Care can monitor symptoms, provide advice and identify problems, hopefully prevent a crisis. Day Care also gives patients' carers vital respite, enabling them to have time to themselves, and offers patients crucial peer support. Sharing experiences and feelings with people who have been through similar things is a big part of a patient's day therapy, and this essential social interaction helps to lift their mood.

A rehabilitation kitchen for Belfast hospice. It is common for patients to quickly lose confidence to cope with everyday things. They are often concerned with how they will manage to make meals safely. Having a rehabilitation kitchen in the dedicated day therapy centre at Marie Curie's Belfast hospice will allow patients to try making their own drinks, meals and snacks with the help and support of the Occupational Therapist.
The kitchen will undoubtedly become the hub of the hospice, encouraging patients to support each other, be creative - with baking days and cocktails on the menu - build their confidence and, most importantly, have fun!

Marie Curie's chief executive, Tom Hughes-Hallett, comments,
"Candis Club and its members have done so much for Marie Curie Cancer Care - your contributions have enabled us to provide MORE home nursing and hospice care, reach MORE patients in need and carry out MORE research into the causes and treatments of cancer. We are very grateful for the continued, very generous, support of Candis Club members."

Marie Curie Cancer Care receives 42 per cent of all Candis Club donations. From October 06 to October 07 the Club expects to give a further £375,000 to help support cancer patients and their families in the UK. To find out more about Marie Curie, call 0800 716 146 or visit www.mariecurie.org.uk

Subscribe to Candis now and help us raise more money for Marie Curie