Chairman: Jim Steel BA Tel: 01294 211244 Email: prost8@tiscali.co.uk c/o Ayrshire and Arran Cancer Support Group 16 Portland Road Kilmarnock East Ayrshire KA1 2BS.
	Meetings Occasional meetings may be held throughout the year, usually with an invited guest speaker, an expert in some form of Prostate management or in a topic of local interest. The main purpose of meetings is to allow those attending the opportunity to chat informally with fellow patients, carers or other interested parties over a cuppa’.
We are a patient led group with members throughout the Ayrshire and Arran area. Members have either themselves had a variety of treatments for prostate cancer, or have been involved in the treatment of the disease in some way.

Island of Arran. We maintain a close involvement with other cancer charities in the area. Two of our committee live in Arran and provide a close link with the island.

Area Involvement: We have been actively involved in assisting with the establishment of The Prostate Cancer Charity in the West of Scotland. Several of our members are actively engaged in their training programmes with a view to making local people more aware of prostate problems.

1. Our Patient Contact Scheme has had 21 'contacts' in the last two years.
2. Our General Meeting in October 07 was a great success. This meeting entitled 'Cancer and Diet, concerned complementary healthcare, the speaker being the well known authority on the subject, Mr Jan de Vries, author, broadcaster and Hon Prof., of Edinburgh Queen Margaret University College.
One of our own members gave a short introductory talk telling of his own dietary approach to post diagnostic treatment. Following this the usual light refreshments were available together with a "Try before you Buy" selection of Green Teas, Pumpkin Seeds and Pomegranate drinks that were well received. A selection of Prostate Help pamphlets, Contact Cards etc., were also made available.
Because of the nature of this meeting, invitations were sent out by local radio, newspapers and on our own Web Site, to all Cancer Groups/Carers etc in the area resulting in a good attendance of over 60 people.

A newly designed Poster with a 'sporting flavour' has once again been displayed in the toilets of Kilmarnock Football Ground. Our June Newsletter was sent out to our (80) members. More material has been displayed at Kilmarnock Prison and Girvan Whisky Distillery.

We have also been involved with Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Macmillan Lead Cancer GP for Ayrshire and Arran who can assist with direct contact with all GP surgeries etc., in our area, where our posters and information material is available.

We are supporters of Ayrshire Cancer Support and are represented at the Ayrshire Cancer Support Cancer Forum held throughout the year when various voluntary groups come together and discuss various problems etc. We have use of their premises for our Drop-in Centres’ ( - see below).
We also keep contact with the three main voluntary transport providers in our area.

Three of our members have attended The Prostate Cancer Charity volunteer courses being run in Glasgow.

Jim Steel
Chairman

Patient Contact Scheme. Arranged with the co-operation of Ayr Hospital Urology Dept. Anyone concerned about any aspects of their condition may contact us and be put in touch with a member who has had experience of the same condition and treatment. This is usually done by telephone but private and confidential one to one meetings can be arranged if required. Carers etc are also invited to contact us under the same terms of confidentiality. Personal details will not be retained without your agreement.

Web Page and email: A local Ayrshire and Arran web page has been designed and can be viewed at
http://www.prostateayrshire.org.uk
Our email address is prost8@tiscali.co.uk

Local Bulletins. In addition to receiving our National Association Newsletter our local members received a free summer and Christmas Bulletin with items of a local flavour.

How to contact us:
If you would like more information about our Support Group, would like to be put on the mailing list to receive Bulletins etc., or just to have a chat about your problems, please contact:

Jim Steel (Chairman), Irvine Tel. No. 01294 211244.
e-mail: prost8@tiscali.co.uk.
James Wilson, Ayr Tel.No. 01292 265222.

Ken McCreath, Treasurer, Ayr Tel. No. 01292 264613.

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT SCOTLAND
Formerly the Scottish Association of Prostate Cancer Support Groups
President: John Duncan - Algo Business Centre, Glenearn Road, Perth, PH2 0NJ
Tel: 01738 450415 -  e-mail: supportprostate@tiscali.co.uk
Scottish Charity No. SC 029158