Give Inn Back keeps motors running for Berwick Cancer Cars

A Northumbrian charity that offers a lifeline transportation service to cancer patients in the north of the county has received a welcome boost of funds courtesy of The Lindisfarne Inn and its Give Inn Back budget.

Berwick and District Cancer Support Group, the operators of Berwick Cancer Cars, have received £2,500 from the inn located at Beal as part of The Inn Collection Group’s Give Inn Back initiative.

Providing free transport to those in Berwick and District with a cancer diagnosis to reach related appointments at regional hospital and further afield, the donation from The Lindisfarne Inn will help keep the charity’s six-car fleet of vehicles named after fundraisers, forging ahead on their missions.

Founded in 1992 by two women from Spittal who were having difficulty accessing their cancer treatment at hospitals more than 60 miles away, the charity now makes more than 1000 journeys a year covering more than 100,000 miles.

With the service used by a family member of one of The Lindisfarne Inn’s assistant managers, donating its 2022 Give Inn Back grant to support the charity was the overwhelming choice of the staff at the venue.

Presenting volunteers of Berwick and District Cancer Support Group with the donation, general manager of The Lindisfarne Inn Zoe Butler said: “We’re very happy to be donating our Give Inn Back fund for 2022 to the Group. It was a cause that the team at the pub felt would be a very deserving cause.

“We were aware of their work as the mum of one of the assistant managers here has used the service, so we liked the idea of helping something that helps someone within our team.

“Give Inn Back is a brilliant initiative and for me, it underlines how good a company The Inn Collection Group is and how it acts in a responsible and caring way.  I know the team already has ideas on how we are going to use the fund in 2023.”

An initiative that sees each of The Inn Collection Group’s properties across the north of England and north Wales allocated a £2,500 annual fund, Give Inn Back allows the teams at each site to engage with their local communities.

More than £10,000 was donated across Northumbria in 2022 with The Bamburgh Castle Inn at Seahouses supporting the town’s festive fireworks, The Hog’s Head Inn supporting Longhoughton Rangers Football Club and Northumberland Mountain Rescue, The Amble Inn donating to the town’s lifeboat station, food bank and Northumberland Dog Rescue and Blyth’s The Commissioners Quay Inn supporting Blyth Rangers Football Club.

A recipient of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, 2023 is set to be another busy 12 months for the Berwick and District Cancer Support Group as they settle into a new home in the former St John’s Ambulance building on Tweed Street.

Providing secure parking for the Cancer Cars, the new building will also allow the creation of a safe environment to host complimentary therapies, advice and counselling hubs and self-run groups within the town.

Roger Peaple of Berwick and District Cancer Support Group added: “We’re hugely appreciative to Zoe and the team at The Lindisfarne Inn for this donation and support of the group.

“We do around 120 trips a month taking around 50 individual clients to cancer related appointments and all the money that allows us to do that comes from support like this and from fundraisers.

“With fuel costs as they are it costs around £5,000 a month to provide the service, so the funds via Give Inn Back will play a huge part in helping us to remain available to those that need us in our community.”