South West

Teenage Cancer Trust's South West Appeal is aiming to raise £2.5 million to fund and build the region's first dedicated unit for 16-24 year olds with cancer. The unit has been designed to be as close as possible to a young person’s normal life and will include both in-patient and out-patient floors complete with amazing social areas, a kitchen and dining area, quiet rooms and consulting rooms.

For the first time young people with cancer in the South West will be able to be treated together and have access to the very best specialist care and support that they need in an environment tailored to their needs.

Our work is only made possible by fundraising and we rely on the generous support of individuals, companies, schools and community groups.

Scroll down the page to find out more about the unit, our appeal and how you can get involved.

Coming up

Find out what's coming up in the South West...

Take on the £1,000 Challenge!

We're thrilled to announce that we have already raised £1.5 million towards the new unit but a further £1 million urgently needs to be raised to achieve our £2.5 million target before the unit can open in early 2014. We're calling on people to help us reach this goal by taking on the '£1,000 Challenge' !
To find our more click here

Bath Half Marathon, Sunday 2nd March 2014

Join Team Teenage Cancer Trust as we attempt to enter our biggest ever group of runners into the Bath Half Marathon!

The Bath Half is a great race over a flat, two-lap course and by running as part of our team you will be helping young people fight cancer with every step you take!

We’ll be here to support you with your fundraising and training and will send you a Teenage Cancer Trust running vest and sponsorship pack as well as being there to cheer you on at the race itself. So whether this is your first half marathon or your tenth, join our team!

To find out more, please click here

Midsomer Fest

Norton Radstock College in Radstock is holding a small music festival called MidSomer Fest on Saturday 15th June. They have the Mangled Wurzels playing and other local bands. There will also be stalls, college activities, a kids area, cream teas, good food and maybe a beer tent!

Held in the beautiful gardens at the College and all in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. The festival is taking place on Saturday 15th June, from 11am until 3pm. For further information please email Fiona Gorman.

Dartmoor Walk in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust

The 8th annual Dartmoor Walk in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust, organised by supporter Ruth Harris, will take place on Sunday 8th September. It’s a ten mile circular walk and participants should meet at Princetown Car Park at 10am for a prompt 10.30am start.

The event is lead by a qualified walk leader and there is a half way ‘opt out’ point if the ten miles proves too much for anyone. Walkers should bring appropriate clothing and footwear as well as drinks and snacks and well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome.

Entry is £10 and sponsor forms are available if you’d like to fundraise on top of this or please set up a Just Giving page. For more details please contact Ruth on ruthharrispilates@btinternet.com

Bristol Half Marathon

We’re also calling on Bristol runners to sign up for the 25th Bristol Half Marathon and join team Teenage Cancer Trust!

The race takes place on Sunday 15th September and takes in all of Bristol's famous sights including the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the stunning Avon Gorge and the historic harbourside.

To find out more please click here

Bike Bath for Teenage Cancer Trust

The second Bike Bath event will take place over the weekend of June 22nd – 23rd 2013. Described as 'a cycling event to remember', the weekend consists of various different rides. To find out more click here

Latest news

Read more about what's been going on in the South West...

South West unit starts to take shape!

The first ever unit for 16 – 24 year olds with cancer in the South West is being built at the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre and will be accessed by young people from across the region. The unit is designed to feel like a home from home and to be as close as possible to a young person’s normal life. It will be built over two floors, with one floor dedicated to in-patients featuring five en-suite rooms; a social area which includes a pool table, jukebox and gaming equipment; a quiet room, TV room, kitchen and dining space. The other floor will be for day patients and will feature three treatment pods, two consulting rooms, a procedure room and a social space which includes entertainment and gaming facilities, and a waiting area with a café. Scroll down for more exciting photos of the unit in development and artists impressions of what the finished unit will look like! We want to thank SACO, The Serviced Apartment Company, for joining the South West Appeal and raising money through everything from cake sales to running the Bristol 10k! www.sacoapartments.com

Congratulations to team ‘Run 4 Ella’!

On Sunday 5th May a staggering 130 people joined together to ‘Run 4 Ella’ in memory of Bristol teenager Ella Redman.

Ella’s friends and family have raised an incredible £40,000 towards Teenage Cancer Trust’s South West Appeal and have many more exciting fundraising events planned, including a cricket match on Sunday 23rd June, a ‘Pop Up Restaurant’ on 12th and 13th July, a bike ride to Glastonbury and back on 20th and 21st July and Auction of Promises on 2nd November.

Huge thanks to all of the team for their support of our Appeal and their dedication to fundraising in Ella’s memory.

Here’s the Run 4 Ella team in their fabulous purple tee shirts!

Banwell Pony Club raises £4,400 for Teenage Cancer Trust!

Huge thanks to all at Banwell Pony Club in Somerset for raising this amazing amount of money by holding a ball.

Olivia Robertson, who organised the event, is pictured here handing over the cheque to Regional Fundraiser, Laura Scowen. Well done Olivia for organising such a successful event!

Royal Agricultural College raise funds for Teenage Cancer Trust!

The Royal Agricultural College in Gloucestershire began their RAG (Raising and Giving) week in earnest on Saturday 2nd February with a Gala Dinner at the College, followed by a week of activities including a rally from the College to Brighton, a tractor pull and a rave night, to name but a few of their varied fundraising plans!

The College have already raised vital funds for Teenage Cancer Trust, one of their three nominated charities for 2013, by producing a naked calendar on the theme of ‘Fifty Shades of AG’. Pictured here are (L-R) RAG Secretary Ally Gray, RAG Chairman Charlie Denman and RAG Secretary Sally Panton.

To find out more about what the students got up to on their RAG week, please click here

Kirby Sheppard smash their fundraising target!

Huge thanks to all at Kirby Sheppard Solicitors in Bristol who have raised an incredible £2,503 after nominating Teenage Cancer Trust as their charity of the year for 2012. The firm smashed their original target of £1,000 by organising bake sales, dress down days, selling pin badges and lots of other activities.

Everyone at the company really pushed themselves to reach this amazing amount and we’d like to say a huge thank you for their support. Staff are pictured here with Bridget Woodard, Regional Appeals Manager for Teenage Cancer Trust.

Rhys raises over £9,000!

Rhys Masters visited the new ward in Bristol this week and handed over donations which bring his fundraising total to £9,192.70, all raised in just 3 months! Rhys took a tour of the brand new ward and handed the cheque over to Vicky Britton (centre), Teenage Cancer Trust Youth Support Co-ordinator and Bex Williams, Senior Staff Nurse.


Rhys's fundraising kicked off with a sponsored head shave in October, when he was joined by friends and family, and gathered pace with more events including cake sales, Christmas stalls and a sponsored Kickathon at his martial arts club.

Rhys and his family have been overwhelmed by the support of the local community, who really engaged with his fundraising on our behalf. Huge thanks to everyone involved.

Freddie's Head Shave

On the 9th December, Freddie Burns from Stroud, shaved his mop of hair off for Teenage Cancer Trust, and has smashed his fundraising target of £250. He has raised £451 so far and is still counting!

Freddie said his motivation was due to his friend, 'In September my friend Will was diagnosed with leukemia. I really want to do something to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, who have been great.'

Thanks Freddie for all your support!

Cake Sale

Well done to Delilah, Annie and Tallulah who held a cake sale at their school in Bristol and raised a whopping £215.70! Thanks for your support girls!

New ward at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children

A brand new hospital ward, designed for 11 to 16 year olds with a variety of complex health issues including cancer, was opened on 12 December by University Hospital Bristol NHS Foundation Trust at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

The home-from-home ward is unlike any other ward in the hospital thanks to our design expertise and the enhancements funded jointly by ourselves and Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal.

The new ward, known as Ward 35, has been built as part of the work to extend the children’s hospital to accommodate services that will move from Frenchay Hospital in 2014. Six of the 14 beds will directly support young people with cancer.

To make the ward feel and look more like a home-from-home rather than a normal hospital ward, over £200,000 was donated jointly by Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal and Teenage Cancer Trust. It’s the first time we’ve worked together and is also a unique moment in our history of lending our design expertise from building specialist cancer units in NHS hospitals across the UK to another development for young people.

Brendan McIntyre, Teenage Cancer Trust Service Development Manager for the South comments: “This is a special moment for Teenage Cancer Trust in the South West as it marks the first phase in a multi-million pound investment we are making in young people’s cancer services. Special thanks to all our supporters and in particular The Scott Williams Memorial Fund and Lady Wills who organised boutique music festival Langford Live, who have funded the Ward 35 enhancements.”