15 minutes | Friday, 24 January 2025
In this feature Xan Phillips, host of Your green voice visits Maggie's Southampton too hear Dr Jilly Howard-Jones and Will Ham talk about this amazing space for help cancer patients and their family and carers find moments of peace during a stressful time.
Transcript below
Xan Phillips: On Southampton's Voice FM, this is your green voice. My name is Xan, and in this part of the show we're talking about the environment, but not outside, inside, because we're at Maggie's Southampton up at University Hospital on Tremona Road. This may be a place overlooked by many, yet it is an essential space when it comes to cancer treatment, because this is a place where peace can be found during the pressure of treatment, as the building is designed to bring nature inside and naturally provide energy for those in need.
Here to tell us more about this hidden gem is Will Ham, Center Fundraising Manager at Maggie's Southampton and also Dr. Jilly Howard Jones, Dr. Howard Jones. Welcome to the show. How are you?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Thank you very much. I'm very well. Thank you. Thanks for inviting us along.
Xan Phillips: That's a pleasure. We're sitting here in this lovely sort of closed off room the window behind us.
We can see out into a little bit of nature into a garden and compared to what it's like when you go to the reception at the University Hospital any time of the day and it feels like the central railway station it is so busy. This is incredibly relaxed. I can imagine this is part of the process of helping people deal with their cancer
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Absolutely, and I love your analogy that the entrance is like that many people say it's like an airport. So absolutely what we aim to provide an offer here at Maggie's Southampton is a complete contrast to that of the hospital. So we have a really beautiful building and we have lots of huge glass windows, which focus straight onto our garden. So the building is like an island in the middle of a garden, and from each window you can see a different aspect of the New Forest brought to the middle of a car park in Southampton.
Xan Phillips: Well, you call it an island in a garden, but it's also an island in the middle of a city. There's a car park, there's the road, there's the houses. But when you're in here, all of that just seems to disappear.
It's really well designed. That has to be by, that's not by chance, is it?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: No we're very fortunate to have had a garden designer called Sarah Price. And she is a Chelsea gold winner at Chelsea and she designed our garden very deliberately to compliment the building. And she's done things like slightly sink the building.
We've got some raised beds around the outside. We don't have any fences. The entire garden is surrounded by trees, and that can be shrubs such as hornbeam and holly. So All often, those trees and bushes will retain their foliage throughout the year. So we have this very natural sheltered garden right in the middle of the car park here at Southampton Hospital.
Xan Phillips: Well, it's, yes, I mean, from the road, you can't, you can't really even see it. It's, it's very interesting in that respect. But when you walk in, there's not only the warmth but there's the peace, but it's not like a library. There's a certain buzz within here, a certain energy, a vibe that's going on that feels very natural.
Very positive. Is that something that comes from the building, the staff, the colors, the decorations, or just the space?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Well, I think you're right there. It's a combination of all those things. But what I would say is that this beautiful building and our beautiful garden outside, which is very much part of our building because you can see it whenever you're, for whatever aspect you are in the building.
But this building absolutely facilitates that the work that we do here at Maggie's. And our aim is really to provide people and offer people the opportunity to engage in cancer support, which is a very different type of cancer support. So we offer a proactive energized, enabled way to support people to live with their cancer experience and also those around them, so their family and friends.
Xan Phillips: Is, is cancer still a stigma then? Is, or is it, is it more acceptable to have cancer if know what I mean?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Well, I've been a cancer nurse for just over 30 years and over that time I've definitely seen the impact of cancer change and that stigma changing. But sadly it is still here today. And people do really find it very hard to manage that as a cancer diagnosis and managing the treatment as part of their everyday lives.
So being able to work, being able to do the normal roles that people do, whether that's a mom or a dad or a grandma or grandpa, friend, you know, being, being at work with people. Managing cancer alongside your life is a very challenging thing and we know we call it the ripple effect, so the person themselves is diagnosed but the consequences of that diagnosis ripple out to all aspects of people's lives So we're here to really empower people and support them to live as best as they can through that experience
Xan Phillips: It's bad enough getting cancer, but the treatment is is another challenge in itself, isn't it?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Absolutely. So we're very fortunate that cancer treatments are, you know, improving all the time. It's incredible to see throughout my career, but. The problem is that cancer treatments do have consequences. They can have side effects. We're now in a position where we have a great many more treatments to offer people, which is fantastic.
But often what we find is that people are living with a cancer diagnosis much longer, which is great. But actually what they are also doing is living with those, the impact of that cancer treatment for much longer too. So we're very much here to support people with that experience.
Xan Phillips: And do you do treatment in the building as well?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: No, this is a treatment free zone. So we're very much, we very much pride ourselves as being very separate from the hospital. We're based in the grounds of the hospital, but we're an independent charity. So we work very differently and we absolutely pride ourselves in creating a really different environment to that of the hospital.
So. All hospitals have to have a functional element to them. And we are very much here to offer the opposite that. So we want Maggie's to feel like your home. I wish my home did look like Maggie's cause it's so beautiful, but we have soft furnishings. We have a kitchen table, we have a kitchen, we have some little hidey way areas.
If people want to have a bit of quiet time on their own to reflect or just need some time to process what's happening, we have that, but we also have lots of space in the middle of our center where people can meet and meet other people. Today we've got our exercise class, which is just finishing.
We're just about to start a course to support people who've finished their treatment for cancer. So there's very much a buzz, but if you do need to escape from that and you want some quiet time, then we have plenty of areas in our building where you can
Xan Phillips: So is this just for when people are having treatment or is it for, I mean, how long, how much, or how often can you use this place as a cancer patient?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Well, we don't call people cancer patients. We call them our visitors. So we very much treat patients. It people as people here. And we do not have a catchment area, so anyone can come and visit us. And we also offer remote support for people who might not be able to make it in. So we support people right out from the forest north.
Baying Stoke far out as Sussex. We support island patients, so we, the Isle of White and the Channel Islands, even the Forland Islands, we support people from. But we don't have a catchment area. We support anybody at any stage of a cancer experience, whether that's during the diagnostic phase, during treatment supporting people to adjust to their life after cancer.
And that can be for many years afterwards as well, because, as I said, some of those consequences could last for quite a while afterwards. And the most important thing to emphasize is that everything we do is free. We don't charge for anything.
Xan Phillips: Well, that's amazing. Well, I'm gonna come to you now.
You've been sitting there quietly patiently Listening to the conversation, but at the same time you're a vital cog in this wheel because you're the center fundraising manager. So Do you mind telling us roughly how much you need to raise each year to keep this building running?
Will Ham: Absolutely, Xan. And thanks also for inviting us to talk.
We need to raise just under a half a million pounds a year to keep us at the center running. And it's worth bearing in mind that we receive no government grants, no NHS funding. It is all purely through donation and gifts and wills that enabled us to do the work here.
Xan Phillips: And so fundraising comes in a variety of hues. There's a fun side, there's the serious side. So let's start with the fun side. What do you make people do to get sponsorship?
Will Ham: I don't make anybody do anything. But I'm very pleased that people will often volunteer to do some pretty incredible things for us. And an example of that is a firewalk that's coming up in just a couple of days.
We've run it a few years in a row now. And it's, it's raised us as much as £8,000 before on the night. And it's an exciting event where people can to really test their metal against something that can look really imposing, a long line of, of hot embers, and then to walk barefoot across it is always a an achievement and an accomplishment.
We're also running a skydive day this year in June June the 21st. So lots of exciting ways to, to, to help support the center, but also test, test yourself and your courage in the process.
Xan Phillips: Well, I'm sure you get asked this question many a times, but do you actually test yourself when doing these things?
Will Ham: Ah, I have the opinion that I shouldn't ask other people to do something I'm not willing to do myself. So yes, last year I did the Firewalk myself, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My wife also did the Firewalk and this year I have . already registered for the skydive as well. So yes, very happy to test myself.
Xan Phillips: And Dr. Howard Jones, are you taking part?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Unfortunately, I can't this year, but I have done it twice before. So like Will definitely found it a really exciting experience. And Will also didn't mention that we'd also abseiled down the Spinnaker Tower last year, which was a really challenging thing to do, but we both really enjoyed it.
Xan Phillips: Fantastic. Of course you are Southampton base, so there's there's a big city out there. Are they receptive to what you're doing here?
Will Ham: That's a good question. I would really like to think so. Bearing in mind that we're just about to turn four as a centre, four years old we're, we're growing with the amount of people that, that know about us and willing to support us.
We want to really enhance that and increase it. We've got a big city. I'd be very keen to talk to people that can help us connect maybe to companies with a, with a larger employment base and it'd be exciting to talk about ways we could partner and support their outcomes and CSR objectives as well at the same time.
Xan Phillips: For those who don't know, but CSR, can you just give the listener an idea about what that is?
Will Ham: Sorry, yeah, corporate social responsibility. So it's increasingly important. And as younger people come into companies, they they want their job to mean something and to be making a difference in the world. So companies might look to the charity sector as a way they can do a day's volunteering or some of the fundraising events, they can volunteer with us through that.
And that gives a nice opportunity to go out and do something. Difference in the city in the area, but which helps people along the way as well
Xan Phillips: and your background where do you come from? Is this a natural fit for you? This is this is this something completely different?
Will Ham: That is also an interesting question.
It's a little bit different for me. My, my background is through the Royal Navy. I was a mine clearance diver at one point. And then after quite an influential volunteering visit to Zambia I, I was really intrigued by the charity sector and about doing something where I can make a significant difference.
I had to learn a new skill along the way, which is fundraising. I did a degree at Chichester University to support that. And now 10 years later, I'm finding myself. Yeah, thoroughly enjoying being able to support Maggie's Southampton.
Xan Phillips: So ultimately to anyone listening in business or as an individual a little bit of money towards Maggie's would be most welcome.
Will Ham: It certainly would. Yes, please, please reach out. And we'd love to get in touch about that.
Xan Phillips: And of course that money Dr. Howard Jones goes towards helping staff do their, do their work here. So what kind of staff do you have here?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: We have a variety of staff, so we have our program team that all come from professional NHS cancer care backgrounds, so often nurses and radiographers.
And they're the ones that often deliver the drop in emotional support that we offer. So our aim is to deliver emotional support at the time of need. So we do that. We also have two psychologists who work in the center and they're there to offer more professional sort of therapy approach. And we also have two benefits advisors who support people with the benefit applications they may need and look at things like blue badges all that kind of stuff really, and any employment issues that people might be experiencing.
But we also have staff that come into the center and do specific work with us. So we have our exercise teacher, Gordon, who comes in twice a week, and also Nuala, our yoga teacher. We have a fabulous art teacher called Jenny Maisels, who is just north of Romsey, and she comes in once a week and does a great art class.
So we have quite a variety of different people contributing to all those practical aspects to support people living with a cancer diagnosis.
Xan Phillips: Before you tell us where we are, do you find it hard to leave the building? Because, you know, it's such a lovely place. And as you pointed out, most of our homes are not like this at all.
Do you think, or just do a bit more hour of emails here before I go home?
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Well, it's certainly very tempting and it's a, it's a really beautiful building to work in, certainly very different from the hospital. So if you do want to come and find us, We are placed right next to the blue car park at University Hospital Southampton.
So as you, at the back of the hospital, as you go through the barriers for blue car park, look immediately to your left and you'll see an area surrounded by trees and a shiny reflective building behind that. And that is Maggie's Southampton. So please do come and look for us next time you're at the hospital.
Xan Phillips: So, Dr. Jilly Howard Jones and Will Ham, thank you very much for your time and we wish you the best of luck with Maggie's.
Dr Jilly Howard-Jones: Thank you very much and lovely to talk to you.
Will Ham: Thank you. Thank you very much.