Spring is here bringing brighter days. We hope you had a lovely Easter, if you celebrated.
April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. You can find more information about the signs and symptoms on our bowel cancer information webpages.
It's also Earth Day on 22 April, a global event to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the environment. You can read more about Cancer Research UK’s environmental sustainability strategy on our website.
This month's newsletter is full of updates, including our new superstore opening and fantastic news about our Investing in Volunteers reaccreditation. Then, with the Race for Life season fast approaching, we're also featuring our event volunteer Amanda and her reasons for supporting.
We hope you enjoy reading!
Julie Byard, Director of Trading
Cancer Research UK
We’re pleased to announce that our newest superstore has opened in Malvern. The store, which at 8,000 sq ft is more than four times the size of a normal Cancer Research UK shop, is the first of its kind in Worcestershire and brings our total number of superstores to 48.
The grand opening took place in February, with inspirational cancer survivor Sheldon Donovan officially opening the store as guest of honour.
Sheldon lost nearly half his body weight after surviving cancer three times and suffering a heart attack that left him in a coma for seven weeks. He said: “It’s thanks to medical research that I’m here now so it’s an absolute honour to be invited to cut the ribbon.”
“I want to thank the whole team - there’s a huge amount of hard work involved when opening a new store. It’s no mean feat, so thank you so much for your passion and dedication. It means we can offer staff, volunteers, customers and supporters a great shopping experience, while raising money for life-saving cancer research.” - Julie Byard, Director of Trading
“You feel that you are part of something big, something special” - volunteer quote from our IiV report.
We’re delighted to share that we’ve received the nationally recognised Investing in Volunteer accreditation for the second time.
This accreditation is the UK quality standard for good volunteer management, and is a sign of our commitment to delivering an excellent volunteer experience and creating an environment where all volunteers can thrive.
We want to say a huge thank you to every single volunteer who took the time to give their feedback as part of the assessment process. We were pleased to receive really positive feedback from the final report, including 96% of volunteers reporting that they feel their role is meaningful and rewarding.
Read more on the Volunteer Hub
For the past six years, Amanda has volunteered at a range of Cancer Research UK events across Manchester, including stewarding at Race for Life and Pretty Muddy, as well as supporting in the admin tent at Shine Manchester. Across all the events that Amanda has been part of, it’s the participants and fellow volunteers that make the experience unbeatable.
This year’s Big Slimming World Clothes Throw runs Sunday 26 April - Saturday 9 May, and preparations are already underway.
We’ve proudly partnered with Slimming World for 13 years. The Clothes Throw is their biggest fundraising campaign and our biggest stock generation campaign of the year. The signature purple bags represent our chance to bring in quality stock to raise funds and strengthen local relationships. In 2025’s Clothes Throw, we received over 120,000 bags, worth an average of £23.63 per bag - that’s more than £3m of stock!
Please speak to your shop manager to find out what to expect and how you can help make this year’s campaign another success.
Thank you in advance for your support - and don’t forget to tell your manager when you get a donation of purple bags!
Don’t miss our takeover episode of The Rest Is Science to explore how we’re tackling a disease that’s older than dinosaurs - cancer.
How do ‘super-avoiders’ manage to stay remarkably cancer-free? How can revealing cancer’s life story help us prevent people from getting it? And how can Trojan horses, gut bugs and rewired cells help us beat it?
In this special episode, popular science stars Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (aka Vsauce) explore the intriguing tricks we’re using to beat cancer at the game of evolution.
Check out the episode to discover how our scientists are making sure that when cancer evolves, science evolves faster.
A moderated discussion forum where you can talk to others affected by cancer, share experiences and get support.
As one of our shop volunteers you have access to tailored, free and confidential health and wellbeing support.
Find useful information and resources for volunteers and stay up to date with the latest news and updates.
If you received a link to this information by text message it is because you volunteer in one of our shops. If you’re no longer volunteering with us, please email us at volunteering@cancer.org.uk.
