Local family encourage others to ‘Culture Crawl’ to support people with cancer 

Ste McGarry, Debbie and Tony Griffiths

Laura McGarry and her family will be taking part in Maggie’s Oldham Culture Crawl and they’re encouraging everyone to join them and walk together to help people with cancer on Friday 28 September. Culture Crawl is a sponsored walk for Maggie’s, who provide free practical and emotional support to people with cancer and their family and friends.

The event gives participants a chance to see Oldham in a new light as they walk 10 kilometres and get exclusive night-time access to interesting venues, experience live entertainment and enjoy tasty food. 

If you or someone you care about is diagnosed with cancer, Maggie’s can help. Your Maggie’s Centre is on the grounds of The Royal Oldham Hospital, a warm, welcoming place where you can meet people who are experiencing the same things you are, find support groups specific to your needs and get advice and information from our professional staff. Our support has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety and depression, you don’t need an appointment to come to Maggie’s and all our support is free. 

Laura McGarry said: “As soon as you walk through the door to Maggie’s, you get a warm welcome, and the offer of tea and cake, I instantly knew I was going to like it here! Maggie’s has been a really special place to me since my diagnosis, from a friendly ear and a place to catch your thoughts after appointments, to sessions such as 'Look Good Feel Better' to help you regain your identity when undergoing cancer treatment.

"The Culture Crawl is a great way to raise money to help Maggies to continue the amazing work they do and keep helping people affected by cancer, whilst having a great time in the process.

"Unfortunately, last year I couldn't take part with the rest of my family as I was undergoing my treatment, so I am really looking forward to joining this year.”

Laura Tomlinson, fundraising manager at Maggie’s Oldham, explained: “As a charity Maggie’s relies on donations to continue developing our unique, high quality programme of support, so we would love for everyone from  the local community to be involved to make this happen.

"We are so grateful to Laura and her family for everything they do to support Maggie’s and for  joinng us at Culture Crawl for the second year running – we’re so pleased that Laura can take part with her family too this year.

" All the money raised at Culture Crawl will go a long way in supporting people with cancer and their family and friends in Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and the surrounding areas.”

Registration for the event is £20 and participants are asked to aim to raise £80 for Maggie’s.