If there is one thing the Borders does brilliantly, it’s getting behind good causes.
And this week TheSouthern is getting behind another fantastic local charity that aims to help alleviate some of the trauma and discomfort of those suffering the effects of cancer treatment, and helping their families and carers.
The Lavender Touch was set up in 2003 by Heather Runciman from Lauder, Galashiels photographer Sheila Scott and award-winning complementary therapist Jan Beattie from Selkirk, and since then the charity has helped more than 2,000 Borders families with its complementary therapy treatments.
Next year the charity will be 10 years old and in that time it has grown, and now boasts 13 therapists and a co-ordinator who works in conjunction with NHS Borders.
It costs £25,000 per year to run the service, with all of that much-needed money raised by big-hearted Borderers.
Now, the team behind The Lavender Touch want to expand the service and realise a long-held dream of opening a Lavender Touch Centre. They plan to mark their anniversary by raising the £150,000 needed to create the specialist facility.
To help them, and as a way of saying thank you for all the help she received from the charity, local textile designer Pauline Birse has designed a revolutionary garment to help cancer patients cope with night-time sweats brought on by the disease and the side-effects of their treatment (see page 7). Money raised from the sales of the unisex garments will go to help The Lavender Touch.
And TheSouthern is also getting behind the charity to help it achieve its goal.
Every month throughout the coming year we will run articles in support of the charity, highlighting both its amazing work and your amazing achievements in helping it to raise the cash for the much-needed centre.