Our recent charity involvement

The South West Asbestos Support and Awareness Group (“SWASAG”) provides help and support to asbestos disease sufferers and their families in the region and we are honoured to have been on their legal panel since 2021.

Not only do we attend the group’s monthly support meetings in Truro and Plymouth, providing expert legal advice on potential asbestos disease claims to its members, but also its special events. The highlights that stand out for us this year are the Five Year Anniversary Ball in May, which celebrated five years of SWASAG’s charitable status, and the Johnny Cowling Comedy Night in January, both held at The Alverton Hotel, Truro. The latter is an annual event held in memory of Mike Moncini, father of Julie and Helen who founded the charity and who sadly lost his life to mesothelioma in 2018. This year, the event raised an incredible £4,300 for the charity.

These events are always so much fun, full of music, dancing and laughter and we look forward to supporting more in the future.

Michael Wolstencroft and David Hughes from RWK Goodman’s asbestos team had the pleasure of attending the 30^th birthday party of the Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group (MAVSG) in Liverpool in October 2023.

MAVSG is a Merseyside institution and, over the past 30 years, the team have assisted thousands of victims of asbestos-related disease and their families. They have campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness of the dangers posed by asbestos exposure and the risks it still poses to men and women in the Merseyside area and further afield.

It was an honour to attend the 30^th birthday party and here’s to continuing the good work for many more years ahead!

On Sunday 15 October 2023, Helen Childs and Annabelle Neilson joined HASAG and friends to trek across eight bridges in London, armed with a quiz to complete on the way. It was a beautiful sunny, cold day and we were soon enjoying the London landmarks. HASAG far exceeded their target and raised £1,335 to help support the wonderful work they do for mesothelioma patients.

On Tuesday 5 December 2023, Annabelle Neilson was delighted to join HASAG and patients at RHS Hyde Hall in Chelmsford, Essex, for some wellbeing and lifting of spirits ahead of the Christmas period. We were fortunate to have a guided tour of the gardens and then a delicious afternoon tea in the Gardener’s Rest restaurant. The dry garden at Hyde Hall was particularly interesting, as they never water it. Annabelle enjoyed it so much, she even returned for the Glow event later in December.

Annabelle Neilson and Rachel Hicks from RWK Goodman thoroughly enjoyed attending the HASAG ‘Light up a Life Carol Service’ at Guy’s Chapel, London, in December 2023.

It was a very moving service with carols sung by a school choir and poignant readings. It was a lovely time to reflect and remember all of our incredible clients and their families who have been affected by asbestos related diseases.

There was an opportunity to write messages to loved ones in baubles to hang on the beautiful Christmas tree in the Chapel.

Thank you HASAG for organising such a special and memorable service.

Annabelle Neilson and Rachel Hicks had a brilliant day at HASAG’s Clinician Study Day in London on 25 January 2024.

Lynne Squibb from HASAG opened the day with an excellent talk detailing her family’s personal journey with mesothelioma which led to the creation of HASAG. We also heard from Rachel Thomas from HASAG who explained her new nursing role at HASAG and the invaluable work she is able to do to support mesothelioma patients and their families.

Throughout the day we heard from a number of interesting speakers on both medical and legal topics.

David Waller, leading Thoracic Surgeon, presented on the results of the Mars 2 Trial and the role of surgery in mesothelioma. Sam Westbrook, a Peritoneal Mesothelioma Nurse, gave an insight into her role at Basingstoke Hospital and spoke about the fantastic support Zoom meetings she runs. RS Oncology gave a talk regarding the MITOPE trial. Dr Riyaz Shah, Consultant Thoracic Medical Oncologist, spoke on what’s new in mesothelioma and provided an update on non small cell lung cancer. Simon Bolton, a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Mesothelioma UK, gave an excellent talk on ‘scanxiety’ and discussed the findings from the Mesothelioma UK study which were very interesting in demonstrating different views and coping mechanisms on ‘scanxiety’.

We then heard a number of talks from industrial disease solicitors. Annabelle Neilson from RWK Goodman gave an insightful talk into immunotherapy and non NHS funded treatment. Annabelle provided case examples and discussed how RWK Goodman ensure provision for future non NHS funded medical treatment as part of the settlements we secure for our clients.

The day was hugely enjoyable. It was lovely to meet such a wide variety of professionals, to include nurses, doctors, charity representatives and lawyers. Thank you HASAG for organising such an educational and fascinating study day.

As a team, we are always proud to support Mesothelioma UK’s efforts to raise funds and awareness. There is always one of their events, however, that makes us laugh and cower in equal measure, and that is the Christmas Carol-off.

This year our team entered the “Best Entertainment and Presence” category with all of us singing at least one line each from “The 12 Days of Christmas”. We won’t forget Nadia’s classic line, “….and a penguin in a pear tree,” Lauren’s wacky reindeer dancing and David’s hen wrestling for quite some time!

Our efforts paid off this year when we were recognised as the winner of our category (joint winners, but winners nonetheless!). It has certainly given us some motivation to come up with something just as fun for this year’s entry – watch this space!

Associates David Hughes and Rachel Hicks hosted the annual Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation Support Group Quiz on 6 October 2023 in Portsmouth. A rare sunny day in October and well-attended. We look forward to hosting it again this year.