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Daft as a Brush Cancer Patient Care offers staffed custom-made vehicles to transport outpatients, completely free of charge, to and from Newcastle Freeman Hospital who are undergoing outpatient Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy cancer treatment. The regions to be covered by Daft as a Brush are: Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding areas, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Sunderland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear. There would be no charge to the patients for our Service. The service will entail collecting and transporting the patients in a safe and comfortable environment, from where they are living, taking them to where they will be having their treatment. If required staying with the patient whilst they have their treatment and then bringing them back home in readiness for their next course of treatment.

The charity: Forward Assist is a charity that offers support and guidance to former servicemen and women experiencing difficulties adjusting to civilian life. Its veteran specific projects are designed for those with mental or physical health problems, the unemployed, or those who have experience of social exclusion, or involvement with the criminal justice system. The civilian community’s belief that the military takes care of its own after service life is misleading, and many serving and former services personnel go on to develop alcohol and drug dependency issues and have difficulty accessing specialist support. A large percentage of our referrals are people disenfranchised from mainstream services and lacking family support. A disproportionate number are unemployed and live a solitary lifestyle. Forward Assist, based in the north-east of England, believes that by promoting ‘active citizenship’, former servicemen and women can become stakeholders within their chosen communities and, in doing so, utilise their transferrable skills. The project: Forward Assist has allotments and gardens in the community walled garden at Seaton Delaval Hall - a National Trust property. The garden plots require digging and planting to get them ready for use by the community gardeners and the National Trust. Seaton Delaval Hall has a proud history of supporting the military in the North East and this project will make a fitting contribution to the WW1 centenary. Forward Assist will support and mentor the veterans who participate in the Project. Tony Wright, founder of Forward Assist says; “For some veterans, adjusting to civilian life can be very difficult. Many spend multiple tours in multiple locations, clocking up a few months to a few years in hostile and austere environments. A return to the civilian community can be joyous for a veteran and his or her family or, an experience fraught with transitional difficulties and anxiety”. “Former Service personnel have many transferable skills and the project at Seaton Delaval Hall will help them gain new skills whilst improving self-esteem and adding much-needed structure to their lives in the safe and spectacular environment at Seaton Delaval Hall. I am proud that Forward Assist will be providing long-term benefit to other local community groups and the general public for years to come by contributing to the environment at Seaton Delaval Hall." The project requires additional volunteers to work with the veterans on preparing the gardens for use.