Hello everyone,
Happy Wear A Hat Day! It is Hugh’s 15ᵗʰ chance to mark this special day but for those of you who are new supporters and campaigners and are asking:
What is Wear A Hat Day?
Well, #WearAHatDay is one of the UK’s biggest and best-loved brain tumour awareness and fundraising days, bringing people together across the nation as they put on their favourite hats and make a donation, or attend a fundraising hat-themed event.
Since its launch in 2010, #WearAHatDay has raised more than £2.2 million to support our vision to find a cure for all types of brain tumours.
Brain Tumour Research has become synonymous with hats and hatting. A bespoke pink silk top hat created for us by Lock & Co – the world’s oldest hat shop – has been our emblem and is an instantly recognisable symbol of Wear A Hat Day every year.
Last week, the Scottish Parliament came together in a show of solidarity for brain tumour patients, with First Minister John Swinney wearing the bespoke pink silk top hat mentioned above and joining other MSPs and campaigners, as well as our colleagues from the Beatson Cancer Charity, for a high-profile Wear A Hat Day 2025 photocall.
Left to right: Our Head of Stakeholder Relations, Hugh Adams, First Minister John Swinney, and our Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Thomas Brayford
The colourful event, sponsored by Beatrice Wishart MSP, Convener of the Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Brain Tumours, was part of a wider effort – during Brain Tumour Awareness Month – to raise awareness of brain tumours and push for greater investment in research.
Following the photocall, politicians attended a dedicated drop-in event, titled 'Advancing brain tumour research in Scotland'. The session highlighted the urgent need for improved research infrastructure, better clinical trial access, and stronger funding commitments to tackle one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
More than 1,000 people are diagnosed with a brain tumour in Scotland every year, with around 400 people dying from aggressive high-grade brain tumours annually.
“The statistics speak for themselves,” said Deputy Convener Finlay Carson MSP at the event. “We need to see real, targeted action and enhanced research efforts to address this crisis.”
Deputy Convener Colin Smyth MSP added: “This is a cancer of unmet need. We must work collaboratively to strengthen Scotland’s brain tumour research pipeline and improve patient outcomes.”
MSPs were also briefed on our Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence which seeks to integrate efforts across leading Scottish research institutions at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Brain Tumour Research keen to see match-funding from Scottish Government to secure its future.
Ms Wishart urged her colleagues to lend their support: “Today’s event is about raising awareness, but it’s also a call to action. Scotland has world-class researchers, but they need the resources and backing to drive forward the breakthroughs patients desperately need.”
At the event, Brain Tumour Research highlighted several challenges facing patients and researchers, including:
- The exclusion of Scottish patients from a major UK-wide Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) clinical trial
- Chronic underfunding that is limiting the amount of research, as well as the number of clinical trials, available to Scottish patients
These events are crucial to galvanise political will and raise the profile of this neglected disease. We urge the Scottish Government to address the issues highlighted, and to match-fund the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, committing to long-term, sustainable investment.
A team spanning neuropathologists, scientists, neurosurgeons and researchers at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), the University of Nottingham and colleagues in Germany is developing a nanopore sequencing-based approach that has the potential to transform the diagnosis of tumours.
The Nanopore sequencer, in use as a research tool at present, enables a radical new pathway where brain tumours can be diagnosed within just two hours of a biopsy being taken from a patient.
On his LinkedIn page, Dr Simon Paine, Consultant Neuropathologist at NUH NHS, writes:
“There are around 12,000 new brain and spinal cord tumours diagnosed in the UK each year. These tumours often need complex testing to classify them and so determine the right treatment.
“Currently, this process typically takes several weeks. But there is a much faster way, based on Oxford Nanopore Technologies, which can make an initial diagnosis for most cases in under two hours – even during the operation.
“Currently, there is no coordinated strategy to introduce this approach into the NHS, but this is what is desperately needed.
Therefore, we (clinical, pathology, surgical, academic, and charitable partners) are writing to the Rt. Hon Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Professor Dame Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer for England and the Senior Responsible Officer for Genomics in the NHS, to ask for what our patients and their families, our colleagues and the wider health service need.”
At Brain Tumour Research, we are fully supportive of Simon and of the letter. We urge you to sign it and also to send it over to your MP, asking them to sign it too. To find out more and to sign the letter, please follow this link.
Hugh is the guest on The Gliobabes podcast which has dropped today (Friday). The podcast is produced by Mel and Mol who both have the same brain tumour, a glioma. They want to spill the tea on all the bits no one talks about when it comes to cancer and young people. And Hugh was delighted to spend time with them and talk about our brain tumour political advocacy work.
Catch Mel, Mol and Hugh today on Spotify and YouTube.
That’s it for this Wear A Hat Day update – we’ll be back next Friday but please do keep an eye on our social media platforms to see what is hat happening and plonk a hat on head, take a photo, take part in #WearAHatDay and donate.
Wishing you all a peaceful time until next Friday.
Karen, Hugh and Thomas.