The Cherry Lodge Cancer Care 2026 Annual General Meeting was held at Howard House on Tuesday 2nd June 2026. It was very encouraging this year to see members, a patron and staff members in attendance with the trustees and CL auditor Andrew Geary. The meeting began with a welcome from Katherine Edwards, co-chair of the trustees, after which other trustees introduced themselves and outlined their areas of responsibility.
Co-chair’s report
Katherine began her report by referring to the Cherry Lodge mission statement, which is kept in mind as we shape what we do. Our stated objective is to offer care and comfort to those with cancer and their families, offering all our services free of charge.
We are determined that more local people are made aware of Cherry Lodge and the support it can offer. Staff and trustees have attended community health care events to publicise our services. Caroline, our volunteer co-ordinator, has greatly increased our social media presence. Our online referral form makes it easy for new people to contact us. Our website, to be relaunched later in 2026, contains a wide range of information.
Katherine next outlined our range of support services. All members are offered an initial appointment with a nurse – last year there were 324 initial appointments and approximately 4,000 follow-up appointments either face to face or by phone. Currently we have one full-time nurse, Karen, and are hoping to recruit a new member to the team very shortly. Psychological support is given through counselling, hypnotherapy and mindfulness courses. A new acupuncturist, Irina, has recently joined other volunteer therapists at Cherry Lodge. Our wide range of complementary therapies increased during the year. We have cancer specific groups led by Karen and an online carers’ support group facilitated by Kirsty. We also offer helpful and relaxing activities, including a popular new Tai chi class, a painting class and talks. Overall, we are extremely pleased with where Cherry Lodge is going, with more therapists, more activities and more people coming to us for the help and support they need.
To achieve our aims, we depend on great staff, volunteers and money. Currently there are 87 volunteers, who are the beating heart of Cherry Lodge. As for money, we need to raise approximately £400,000 annually to cover our running costs – so thank you now to everyone who gets involved in fundraising efforts, whether as part of the fundraising team, working tirelessly in the shop, or running a third-party event for us. Before handing over to Andrew, our auditor, Katherine mentioned our new legacy leaflet, which we hope will encourage people to think about leaving some money to Cherry Lodge in their wills.
Drawing to a close, Katherine hoped people would agree it had been a busy year. There are also more ideas we want to develop in the near future. Finally, she thanked everyone involved with Cherry Lodge – staff, volunteers, donors, fundraisers and those who support us through third-party events – as well as stressing that trustees all take their responsibilities very seriously and are committed to providing care and support to all those with cancer or their families who come to us for help.
Financial summary
Andrew Geary, the CL auditor, then took the floor and went through the 2025 Financial Summary. This showed a loss of £113,463 for the year (before the revaluation of our investments) compared to a deficit of £88,523 for the previous year.
Andrew explained that our income had declined by £56,515 year on year largely due to not having received any legacy income in 2025. This decrease was partially offset by a shop insurance claim payment relating to last year’s flood and increased interest from our investments.
Our running costs had reduced by £31,575 during the year and totalled £438,537. This reduction was largely attributable to lower staff costs with long-serving staff members either retiring or taking up new roles in other charities..
Andrew explained that Cherry Lodge continues to be viewed as an ongoing concern, pointing out that we hold investments that would cover our running costs for a considerable time should there ever be a significant decline in our revenue streams. While there continues to be no cause to worry about CL’s longer term viability, Andrew emphasised the increasing importance of legacies to our financial health (and that of many other charities), given that we receive no central grants or funding to maintain our operations.
Audience participation
There was then an opportunity for people to ask questions or make comments. Notable among these was the contribution from Janet Doyle Blunden, who was involved in the earliest days of our charity and has been a long-time patron. Janet acknowledged all the hard work of trustees, staff and volunteers and commented that: “It is encouraging to see Cherry Lodge extending further what we offer to members, and I can feel the energy and positivity in the room”.
Refreshments
The meeting ended with refreshments and an opportunity to mingle.
Cherry Lodge Cancer Care Annual Report 2025
Click here to access our 2025 Annual Report.
Financial Summary 2025
Click here to access a copy of the CL Summary Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31st December 2025. More detailed information for 2025 and 2026 is available on request.