Interview with BBC Solent - 10 minute listen

Today, Alison, Brian and some of our letter writers and recipients were interviewed by Charlotte Foot and Lucy Ambache for BBC Solent to tell the story of From Me to You.

Lucy Ambache:

Well, it's such a lovely story, it's so lovely to feature it here. And congratulations, because the letter writing charity celebrated its fifth birthday last month, tell us what you have achieved over that time.

Alison Hitchcock:

When Brian and I first set up the charity was aimed more at people like Will, so somebody who had a friend or family member who was going through cancer and who they wanted to connect with. And so we set up a website that had lots of tips on for friends and family. And we also held workshops, where people could come and learn how to write a letter to one of their loved ones. And then that developed because people were coming saying, Oh, I'd really like to write a letter, but I don't know anyone with cancer. So that's why we started our donate a letter programme. And that's where people from all over the world, write anonymous letters. Thankfully, they all write them in English. We read those letters. And then we distribute them to people living with cancer, both to their own homes, but to hospitals and hospices and cancer centres. And the person doesn't write back, it's just a gift of something to distract them and brighten their day, just like Anne said, and it makes them feel like they're a normal person, because they are just being told about somebody else's life. And it's got nothing to do with their cancer. And so we have as, as your feature said, we've received and sent on almost 25,000 letters in the last five years. But I think we've also hopefully raised awareness of the isolation that cancer diagnosis brings. Because often, the person living with cancer is left at home, when everybody else has gone to work, or they're socialising in the pub, or even just at the school gates, that person is no longer there. And they just left at home with daytime TV and on their own. And it was that isolation that we were - we want to alleviate with just something as simple as a letter. So it's not intrusive, the person can read it and have it when it suits them. And it doesn't drain their energy in any way. But it just lets them know that there's somebody out there thinking of them.

You can listen to the full ten minute interview here. Thank you to Will, Anne and Liv for sharing their experiences.