The good work we do relies on your generous donations of used goods to our charity shops and from the financial donations people, organisations and grant bodies give. Please give today.
We’re a tiny charity, that is largely self-sufficient, and every single penny helps us carry on our vital work.
Bank Account: Lloyd’s
Account Number: 01480455
Sort Code: 309857
Pants Cancer is a local charity supporting those living in Cornwall coping with the unspoken pants area cancers.
Founded by Jeannette Preston twelve years ago, a womb cancer survivor, the charity aims to raise funds for the Cancer Rehab Centre at Waterside House, Falmouth, where survivors of these cancers have free programs to enhance their recovery. We raise awareness of all the pants area cancers and have been lobbying for the HPV vaccine for boys as well as girls. This vaccine is so important in prevention of pants area cancers and oral and throat cancers and in September 2019 will be available to both sexes. It bothered me on two counts one that our young men weren’t protected, and two that young women would be seen to be the carriers of the Human Papilloma virus when clearly it takes two to tango.
Pants currently have one charity shop on Webber Street,Posh Pants TR113AU, near the town centre, and one in Ponsharden opposite Sainsburys. TR112SG. Posh Pants came into being thanks to the generosity of Chris Spencer our landlord who as well as being a headmaster was also on the antiques Road show. He has a phenomenal knowledge of antiques and collectables and was, and still very much is, so on side with what I am trying to do. The two wonderful ladies who made it such a success, Sharon and Monica were incredible people and it is so sad that both died. Anne Neil, now Barbara Mitchel came to help and was my rock until she left to marry the love of her life aged 70. How I miss her!
Jeannette told Nub News how the charity got off to a flying start. I had no business experience when I took on the shop at Killigrew so I asked everyone for advice. She said: “I was really able to engage the media because I modelled it around Tim Smit at The Eden Project and watched what he did. I got interviewed by radio stations, we had Spotlight in the shop filming the musicians who came to support us, and got into all the media, it was amazing the way people responded. Chris and Rachel Kevern took amazing pictures and these got us into the papers. We had donations from Dorset down to St Just as people so wanted it to work.
“I was inundated with stuff, and I realised we needed to expand so we set up The Hub by Sainsburys and opened three hubs up there in 2010, 2011 and 2012. It was a great success, it was a good location for people to drop off and that worked really well.”
The business was proving to be really successful. However, in 2016, while Jeanette was on holiday with her husband Pants was struck by a “serial con woman” who collected all the money from all the shops in the organisation. We have had several thefts from people who worked for us, people I trusted and it was a bitter blow, since I really believed everyone would want to help cancer patients survive. Our current team is the best we have ever had and entirely trustworthy. They had to rebut all the dreadful things said about Jeannette knowing none of it was true.
Jeannette, said: “We have struggled ever since then, I went to court separately just to clear my name, we will never get the money back. We have never been a rich charity, by careful housekeeping and sheer hard work we have transformed all our wonderful donations into money to fund everything and now we are down to one unit at Ponsharden and we have suddenly ended up really struggling.
“There were headlines saying there was planning permission applied for a pub and a hotel up on Ponsharden so everybody thought we had closed. So, what with that and the town centre being dug up two years running affecting the other shop, it completely finished us off.”
Now Jeannette’s name is clear, Pants can start applying for grants again, but it is proving very difficult. Steve Winnan runs the Cancer Rehab Centre at Waterside House, and Jeanette and Steve want to deliver the program to other regions. People in rurally isolated communities just cannot access support after having pants area cancer and their needs are unique so it is vital we reach out to them. When I had womb cancer there was nothing by way of support – now the CancerRehab program helps people transform from cancer patients into survivors.
She added: “It is just so hard for people like me to get money, and you just think why? Not only is what Steve (Winnan) doing here so important, we want to deliver it across the county, way down west and up in Bude, different places where people maybe struggle to access services and support. At the moment we cannot get funding for it, and we may well fold in-between that.”
Pants is a great local charity that a lot of people rely on, and it won’t survive without your donations, to find out more, click the Donate with Stripe button below. You can also contact Jeannette on 01326 761404 or email at rusalka31@aol.com
Alternatively you can pay directly to our account:
Bank Account: Lloyd’s
Account Number: 01480455
Sort Code: 309857
