HATS OFF TO FANTASTIC FUNDRAISERS

Supporters across the UK helped bring a momentous Brain Tumour Awareness Month to a close by wearing hats and raising funds on Friday 31st March.

Below: Researchers at the ICR

There was also support from the world of politics, including Minister of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, George Freeman MP, and researchers at our new Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) paired their hats with lab coats to look super for science.

Members of the British Hat Guild attended an event held at Hat Works in Luton, where a raffle featured hats by the Guild’s chairman, Stephen Jones OBE, as prizes. Also in attendance were milliner Misa Harada, whose hat inspired our 2023 signature brooch, and supporters Yasmin Stannard and her husband Khuram Liaquat, who lost their daughter Amani to a GBM.

Employees from the Milton Keynes branch of NatWest welcomed local MP Iain Stewart to their event, which marked the start of a four-monthlong charity partnership with Brain Tumour Research for many years. This year, it launched the limitededition Brain Tumour Research Panama with £50 from each hat sold being donated to help find a cure. The shop also displayed hats created by pupils from Blakesley Primary School, Northamptonshire in the shop window. a brain tumour in 2015. This year, around 390 pupils and 70 members of staff took part. One in three know someone affected by a brain tumour

Claire Cordiner has been getting involved since 2016, raising more than £4,000 to help find a cure. Claire lost her mum Margaret and sister Angie to brain tumours, and her nephew, Angie’s only son, Max, has been diagnosed with a GBM.

Some high-profile names lent their support to Wear A Hat Day this year. Amongst those tipping their cap to our cause was actress Vicki Michelle MBE, best known for playing Yvette Carte-Blanche in ‘Allo ‘Allo, now starring in EastEnders.

Vicki’s EastEnders co-star, Danielle Harold, who played brain tumour patient Lola in the soap, also threw her hat into the ring, along with The Wanted singer Siva Kaneswaran who, after losing bandmate Tom Parker to a glioblastoma (GBM), has vowed to “finish what Tom started”.

Wear A Hat Day is always a great excuse to get creative. Pre-schoolers at Tiddlywinks Pre-School in Great Horkesley and pensioners at Abbeyfield Wessex Society House in Romsey put their crafting skills to the test and created their own hats.

Meanwhile staff at Highwoods GP Surgery in Colchester wore hats of all shapes and sizes, took part in a quiz and sold pin badges to help raise extra cash. It was in support of receptionist Sara Thomas, whose dad David died from a GBM.

Wear A Hat Day is a family of three annual events, and our next hattastic fundraiser, Wear A Hat Day with Flowers, takes place on Friday 23rd June. Save the date: Wear A Hat Day is back on Thursday 28th March 2024!

Register now and kick-start your summer with a blooming brilliant event: www.wearahatday.org