President Mairhi Trickett welcomed members
to last week's meeting of the Rotary Club when the speaker Charlotte Young gave
an excellent and interesting illustrated talk on the Project she is putting in
place to help cancer victims. In the past the solution to serious
illnesses like cancer was to take to bed for a few weeks. This has now
been found to be counter-productive and the new thinking is that movement can
actually help recovery and make the patient feel better. Charlotte,
herself a cancer survivor, has undertaken to put the Project "Move More Borders"
in association with McMillan Cancer Support into operation initially in
Galashiels and Hawick with the intention of rolling it out across the
Borders. It is roughly broken up into different activities such as a
gentle movement class; walking to suit the patients' limitations; circuit
training and others such as gardening and gentle activities. She is
looking to recruit volunteers and cancer survivors to assist in running the
classes. There is no intention to run marathons but doing something, no
matter how little, is better than doing nothing and helps improve patients'
expectations and well-being. All the activites are free of charge and
patients will meet others in various locations who can relate to each other on a
common and level plain leading to a better understanding of their
problems. Charlotte, not only spoke and looked professional, but her
enthusiasm and motivation was infectious and this was reflected in the vote of
thanks by Past President Andrew Suddon.