CANCER Support Skipton is going from strength to strength.

It opened its Otley Street office in the summer and has just been given a Gannett Foundation grant of £5,545 to buy items such as furniture, a therapy bed, kitchen equipment and blinds for the windows.

It has also joined forces with the town's two surgeries - Fisher Medical Centre and Dyneley House - to deliver a programme of monthly information and support sessions around specific cancers.

The free sessions, for patients and carers, will be held monthly on Wednesdays from 2pm to 4pm at The Barn, Dyneley House, Newmarket Street.

Each session will focus on a particular cancer, providing information, support and a chance to chat with others who are experiencing the same issues.

The programme starts next week with the focus on gynaeocological cancer, followed by prostate cancer on March 4, bowel cancer on April 1, skin cancer on May 6, bone and blood cancers on June 3, head and neck cancers on August 5, breast cancer on October 7, lung cancer on November 4.

There will also be Cancer Support Centre open days on July 8 and December 16.

Debi Hawkins, from Cancer Support Skipton, said: “Each year there is a national monthly campaign, highlighting site-specific cancers, with lots of information being distributed. We thought it would be really helpful for people in Craven to hold a programme of events to complement this national campaign.

"The aim of the programme is to get this information directly to people who need it and to help people find out what support there is locally.”

Emma Taylor, health promotions officer, added: “These sessions will be really informal, a mix of information, support and chance to chat. We are really pleased to be supported by the cancer nurse specialist team at Airedale Hospital who will be on hand to answer the practical questions people may have.

To book a free place or for more information contact Emma Taylor 07591067930 or emma.taylor42@nhs.net Or, to find out more about Cancer Support Skipton, please contact 01274 776688 or debi.hawkins@bradfordcancersupport.org.uk