At our sixth meeting on 18th January 2007 Paula Bond the Macmillan Regional Coordinator was unable to attend the meeting due to weather conditions disrupting train services. The group discussed  the issues they would like covered when Paula was able to attend.
At the seventh meeting on  16th February 2007 the group was very pleased to welcome  two new members and guest speaker Mr Jonathan Ockrim, Consultant Surgeon at YDH. Mr Ockrim gave a very interesting presentation that included a video of a laparoscopic procedure to remove a colorectal tumour. He also referred to a bowel cancer screening programme that was being rolled out in Somerset later in 2007. The screening would involve a simple test called FOB (Faecal Occult Blood). The aim was to improve outcomes and treatment by early diagnosis and removal of polyps at an early stage of development to reduce cases of bowel cancer.  This presentation was very much appreciated by the group and the experience of viewing a very skilled and virtually bloodless procedure  was amazing.
Our eighth meeting on 16th March 2007 was pleased to welcome two more new members and guest speaker Sue Bulley, Clinical Trials Manager at YDH. Sue gave a wide ranging presentation about Clinical Trials at YDH where a trials unit has been in place since 1997. At the time of the presentation there were 72 active oncology trials, 42 were open for recruitment, 21 other trials were focusing on Stroke, Rheumatology, Cardiology, Paediatrics, Orthopaedics and Parkinson’s.  The subject of the group name was raised by Heather and she proposed we adopted “Colon-aid” after discussion the group unanimously voted to adopt this style. The  web site, posters, name badges and information leaflet have subsequently been revised to incorporate “Colon-aid” in the headers. We received a letter from St Margaret’s for our donation  of £54.45 the money raised from our contributions for refreshments and the Christmas raffle. This meeting raised a further £18.80 that was passed to St Margaret’s.
The ninth meeting on 20th April 2007 finally saw the appearance of our guest speaker Paula Bond the Macmillan  Community Networks Development Coordinator. Paula gave us a presentation  covering the grants and training workshops that were available to us. It was agreed that the group would discuss the various workshop options at our May meeting and then decide on which would best suit our needs. Stan and Hazel organised a raffle during the refreshment break the proceeds were added to the monies collected for refreshments and  £40.16 was passed to St Margaret’s at the end of the meeting.
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