Newcastle-based Peacocks Medical Group has a long-standing commitment to Children’s Cancer North. In this article, marketing manager and member of the Peacock family, Heather Peacock, discusses her second year of secondment at the charity and the firm’s 40 years of support to the charity, which has recently undergone a merger.
Peacocks Medical Group is intrinsically linked with Children’s Cancer North, as my husband, Chris Peacock, is a childhood cancer survivor having been diagnosed with cancer of the kidney, aged three years old.
As such, the Peacock family has supported the charity for 40 years with Chris now being chair of the charity and its flagship annual event – the Children’s Cancer Run – which has raised millions for research into childhood cancers.
Children’s Cancer North is the amalgamation of North of England Children’s Cancer Research and the Children’s Cancer Fund. The merger took place in May. The two charities have collectively raised £40 million since 1979 to fund vital research, trials, treatment, raise awareness and provide support, activities and more to young patients on cancer wards at the Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle.
I am a marketer and, through my connection, I identified the charity needed additional support in delivering its ambitious 40th anniversary plans and I really wanted to help.
The senior management team at Peacocks listened to my proposal and agreed to support the secondment.
Operating with only a small team, I saw the opportunity to call on my experience to become really engaged with the charity, a move that has been fully supported by Chris Peacock who is chair of our business and David Stevens, our managing director.
I am now in my second year of secondment and for as long as I have known Chris, I have witnessed at first-hand the outstanding work it does when it comes to research into childhood cancers and providing support and care to patients. The recent merger to become Children’s Cancer North will enable us to be more efficient, give us a unified voice that we hope will create greater impact and provide more opportunities to fundraise and access other sources of funding. In turn, this will help to improve the lives of children and young people with cancer – not only in our fantastic region but also by contributing to the global pool of knowledge into researching causes, treatments and reducing side effects of childhood cancer.
The charity is embedded within Peacocks’ culture and we always have great support from staff who volunteer or take part in events, such as the Children’s Cancer Run. My secondment also highlights the commitment and dedication that Peacocks has given to the charity and also demonstrates how a business can really make a substantial impact on a charity.
The pandemic has had a huge impact on the charity which, in recent times, had seen a 60% drop in fundraising income. The annual Children’s Cancer Run was postponed due to Covid, so we looked to fundraise in new ways and launched our first virtual event – The Climb. Participants were able to download our new mobile app and choose one of six challenges, receiving a range of digital badges upon completing key milestones. It has been a huge success and a way to build our community, digitally.
During July we are hosting the Children’s Cancer Run at Schools event, which will feature schools across the North East and Cumbria running 1, 3 or 5 miles for our charity. We are hoping to bring back our main fundraising event – the Children’s Cancer Run in September. This is currently planned to be in a limited capacity, which we will open up to greater numbers of runners should conditions allow.
We will also be launching an ambitious campaign in the autumn to revamp the children’s cancer wards at the RVI to bring them up to date with the growing technological needs of modern life and we are also planning a business event focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility for companies that are interested to learn more about how they can engage with charities (not just ours!). So, yes, we have a very busy few months ahead!
I am very grateful to have this opportunity to help shape the charity at this critical time and I would like to praise the very generous people of the North East and Cumbria who have helped to make childhood cancer care and cancer research in our region amongst the very best in the UK and Europe.