CancerCare was proud to showcase the support we give to young people coping with cancer and bereavement as part of the BBC’s Children in Need extravaganza, last Friday.

A team from BBC North West Tonight visited our Slynedales Centre to speak to members of the Re-Fresh Young People’s Peer Support Group to find out how the £30,000 Children in Need funding it received last year has helped us provide support, fun and activities for 11-17 year olds coping with serious illness or death in their family.

The funding has enabled us to extend our Re-Fresh group beyond Lancaster to our centres in Kendal and Barrow-in-Furness and open up the specialist support and activity programme - which includes outdoor adventure weekends and trips to Blackpool – to more young people across the Morecambe Bay area.

Reporter Ian Haslam, and Children in Need mascot Blush, met the young people around the campfire in their outdoor den area for a chat about how much the friendships they have made, combined with the support from a team of specialist youth workers, has helped them cope with some tough times in their lives.

CancerCare Chief Executive Alison Stainthorpe said: “It was absolutely fantastic to be part of the annual Children in Need TV celebrations. It is always an emotional night hearing about all the great work charities across the UK do to help young people.

“Children in Need funding has been instrumental in helping us set up and establish our Re-Fresh group as a vital source of help for young people across north Lancashire and south Cumbria, and their continued support shows how much they value the work we do at CancerCare.”

For more information about Re-Fresh click here