Falkland Islands Support Charities

78p Cancer Support & Awareness Trust (CSAT)

The Trust was the brain child of Peter Collins who suffered from breast cancer and lived on the remote Pebble Island with his wife and family, without access to a library or any chance to find out more about his diagnosis.  He was determined that this should not happen to anyone else.

With his wife, Shiralee, and young sons he moved to Stanley to be closer to the hospital and most importantly to a library. Whilst away receiving treatment in UK he suggested establishing a charity that could help people with day to day tasks and with volunteers to sit and chat with the patient, thus the tag line ‘a listening ear and a helping hand’ was born.  At a meeting in a local public house, a committee was formed with Shiralee as Chair, along with a Secretary, a Treasurer and two further members supported by a large group of volunteers, some of whom were themselves cancer sufferers or those in remission.

 

 

A Trust deed was drawn up with the help of a local solicitor in 1994 and was named “The Cancer Support and Awareness Group” which later changed to Trust (CSAT).

Sadly, after Peter passed away in England, Shiralee found she had a very high phone bill because of trying to keep her family in touch with their father; so, a new reason to fundraise was agreed to purchase telephone cards for patients sent overseas to keep in touch with their families in the Islands.

As technology advanced mobile phones were bought and loaned to patients sent overseas and fax machines were made available to the families who remained here, all provided by kind donations within the community.

Fast forward 15 years and the aim of the Trust, which is now run by eight volunteer Trustees, is to promote awareness and to offer financial, practical and emotional help and support to anyone affected by cancer in any way, including family and carers. Our volunteers lend a listening ear and a helping hand with complete confidentiality.

In 2009 Trustees began fundraising to bring equipment and a medical team to the Falklands from Chile to carry out the Islands’ first ever national mammography screening programme and in early 2010 this was a mammoth project but was achieved successfully and undoubtedly lives were saved. 

The Trust supports those in need in many ways nowadays and has used funds, amongst other things, for necessary adaptations to homes and for furnishings for the hospital so that relatives can stay in comfort with end of life patients. Each Christmas all patients supported by the Trust are sent food hampers to help them enjoy the festive season. Patients requiring financial assistance are paid by bank transfer each month with the Standard Chartered Bank kindly waiving any charges for this service.

CSAT is the only cancer support charity within the Islands, it is a very busy and active Trust and any help offered is much appreciated.

November 2019 sees the 25th Anniversary of the official forming of the Cancer Support & Awareness Trust and Trustees are delighted that this can be commemorated with a stamp issue bearing a photograph of Peter, along with the Stephen Jaffray Memorial Trust stamp issue, another fantastic local charity which commemorated its 25th anniversary in 2018.

78p The Stephen Jaffray Memorial Fund

The Stephen Jaffray Memorial Fund was set up in 1993 in memory of young Falkland Islander Stephen Jaffray who sadly passed away in 1992 aged 21. Stephen had to be airlifted to Montevideo, which cost a lot of money to send and keep his family with him during this time. Stephen and his family were overwhelmed by the generosity of people and businesses at their time of need. Stephen’s wish was to raise money to help assist other families who are in desperate need to be with their sick, close relatives in their time of need who do not have the finances to assist them.

Stephen’s family decided to start the charity in honour of his wishes and has now been a successful ongoing charity for over 25 years, helping many families over this time. So far, the charity has spent over £300,000 assisting families with flights and accommodation and is one of the most popular charities in the Falkland Islands and hopes to continue the ongoing support.

Technical details:

Designer Andrew Robinson
Printer Cartor Security Printing
Process Stochastic Lithography
Perforation 13 x 13 ¼ per 2cms
Stamp size 30.6 x 38mm
Sheet Layout 10
Release date 6 December, 2019
Production Co-ordination Creative Direction (Worldwide) Ltd

Stamp Item Numbers:

ST012139 Falkland Islands Support Charities Mint Set
ST012140 Falkland Islands Support Charities CTO Set
ST012117 Falkland Islands Support Charities FDC