Our Campaigns and Activities During 2024

Spring

In January we completed our Sector Review, by publishing the results of our 2023 Sector Review of cancer charities and their activities with respect to the prevention of cancer at population level.  We had surveyed a large section of the cancer charity sector’s activities over the previous six months and had received a number of informative replies.  Some cancer charities had a genuine interest in preventing the development of cancer, but perhaps understandably, many felt it was more imperative to concentrate on greater symptom awareness, earlier diagnosis, improved care and better research.  However, many had also outsourced their interest in cancer prevention to  “umbrella” charities that covered issues such as smoking, obesity and alcohol.  All in all, the conclusion of our survey was that we are all “punching below our weight” with respect to the prevention of cancer at population level.

Summer

Much of May and June was spent on the campaign for our Manifesto which we presented and publicised in the run up to the General Election.  The key requests were:

1. A “polluter pays” tax on tobacco industry profits to fund comprehensive smoking cessation programmes;
2. Mandatory alcohol labelling that provides information on key health risks;
3. A target to minimise the use of ultra-processed food especially in school meals.

Following the General Election our main activity was to establish a political support base among the plethora of new MPs that had been elected  to the House of Commons in the July 2024 General Election.  Meetings, emails and analysis of MPs’ interests have taken up much of our time.  The prevention of disease remains a key political interest and objective for the new Labour Government and we will be capitalising on this during 2025. 

In August, during the holiday season, we launched a low key campaign to warn people of the dangers of UV rays during the summer holidays under the title “Sunsmart”.  As our audience for this campaign was the general public much of the campaign was delivered via Facebook,  Twitter and other social media.  Beautiful pictures of the  Mediterranean and glistening blue seas were accompanied by warnings of the dangers of the sun’s rays and the importance of avoiding the midday sun, as well as wearing a hat and covering the skin in the hottest glare.  This will form the base of a much stronger campaign in August 2025, enabling us to reach a wider audience with other forms of social media.  Read our blog here.

Autumn

During September we ran our own Stoptober campaign, based upon, and strengthened by the national Stoptober campaign.  We ran a campaign of carefully designed social media posts, blogs, print articles, and personal testaments, and lent our support to many other charities’ excellent Stoptober campaigns.  A variety of our blogs on Stoptober and Andy’s Sliding Door blog are available under our “Blogs” menu tab.

In the run-up to Christmas we are arranging and designing our campaign for Cancer Prevention Action Week which will  commence on 17th February 2025 and where we will be campaigning on more effective labelling of alcoholic drinks.

Please get in touch with us for more information, or to join any of our campaigns.