With just a few weeks to go until Wear A Hat Day, taking place on Friday 27th March, supporters across the nation are getting ready at their workplaces, communities and schools, to raise money and raise awareness of brain tumours.
Julia King is leading staff at Vector Laboratories in Yorkshire as they fundraise in honour of their colleague, Rosemary Hill, who has been diagnosed with an inoperable glioblastoma. Aged 78, she’s unable to access clinical trials and treatment options are extremely limited.
Rosemary’s daughter, Dr Catherine Bladen, Scientific Officer at Vector Labs and a cancer scientist, said: “What’s most frustrating is how little progress has been made. Treatment for brain tumours has barely changed in decades, while cancers like breast cancer and leukaemia have been transformed by personalised medicine and biologics. There are more than 100 types of brain tumours, yet we still approach them with a one-size-fits-all mindset.”
Rosemary and Catherine
As part of the team’s Wear A Hat Day activities, they plan to hold a bake sale and a best hat competition, with all proceeds donated to Brain Tumour Research.
Trudy Carruthers, 55, from Gateshead is backing Wear A Hat Day, in memory of her mum, Valerie, who died in February 2024 after being diagnosed with four inoperable brain tumours.
Trudy said: “I told my mum she wouldn’t die in vain. In the first year after she passed, I had difficulty talking about her experience without becoming too upset. But now I feel ready. If I can raise awareness and help even one family avoid what we went through, then it’s worth it.”
Trudy will host her Wear a Hat Day event at Sunniside Social Club in Gateshead. The afternoon fundraiser will feature a live singer performing Rat Pack classics, raffles including prizes donated by Newcastle United, and a competition for the weirdest and wackiest hats. Guests will be invited to make a donation on the door, with all funds going to the charity.
Trudy and Valerie
“All of our members are so excited to take part. They're already looking for the most outrageous hats they can find. Some are decorating hats they already own, others are hunting for something completely over the top. It’s bringing such a lovely sense of community togetherness.
“This is about celebrating life as well as raising awareness. Mum loved music and bringing people together. I think she’d be proud to see everyone in their hats, having a singalong, and doing something meaningful,” Trudy added.
Sarah Long, a mum from Buckinghamshire, is also participating in our flagship fundraising event. Having lost her son Oscar to an untreatable diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) brain tumour, she understands the importance of investing more in research into finding a cure.
Oscar and Sarah
When Oscar passed away, his school held an assembly to remember him, and Sarah and her family helped to plant 1,200 daffodil bulbs which, every spring, burst into bloom spelling out his initials.
Sarah said: “Gestures such as this mean so much to us and it is important to know that, despite the years that have passed, Oscar is not forgotten.
"Oscar would have turned 30 this year. He will forever be in our thoughts as we support vital research to bring about better outcomes for brain tumour patients and hope for families affected.
“I'll be hosting an art afternoon with Brush Party for friends to get together, wear hats and paint. It's a fun way to get creative and fundraise for something so important to us."
One in three people in the UK knows someone affected by a brain tumour. Help us fund the fight to find a cure for brain tumours, by joining in on Friday 27th March, wearing a hat and holding your own fundraising event.
Simply register to take part and you’ll get a fundraising pack and all the support you need from your dedicated Community Fundraiser.
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