Thank you Roger

After 14 years of continued guidance and dedicated support, through thick and thin, from the very beginning, when Jackie established OOSO as a patient support group, Roger has decided to retire from his duties as Webmaster, data security chief, events guru, and all-round technical wizard.

Whilst OOSO remains afloat and rudder fully intact, our sails have dropped, as we will undoubtedly dearly miss Roger’s driving force and enthusiasm behind ooso over so many years.  We THANK YOU Roger, for everything that you have done for OOSO, making us the most successful patient-focussed support Charity for Upper GI cancers in the UK. Your service and good humour is hugely valued by so many, and can’t be understated how important a role you have played in the support and help of literally thousands of patients and their families over the years. 

Roger and OOSO go together like strawberries and cream - here's just a very brief summary:

• In the early days, Roger helped Jackie with continual events, meetings and fundraisers, setting up gazebos and raffles at every opportunity; 
• Roger coordinated our biggest ever and most successful fundraising event 'JOGLE', as well as driving the cycle support vehicle to and from John O'Groats to Lands End and back again!
• Roger built and grew our website from scratch, and is now one of the most visited UGI cancer online sources of information for patients around the world;
• Typically we receive 2,500 unique visits per month from over 40 countries;
• Roger has kept the website refreshed, with a good humoured light touch and as interactive as any other;
• Critically, Roger established our framework for secure data management, allowing over 300 members to enjoy our newsletters and zooms;
• Behind the scenes Roger has advised and guided Jackie and the Trustees to making important decisions, developing OOSO's role and enhancing our reputation, and we hope he will continue to do so.

The future

This newsletter has been produced jointly by myself under the close supervision of Roger, giving me a Master Class, sharing the ropes around MailChimp and other tools. We have yet to explore two very kind offers of technical support with our website and data management, feeling our way into a new era ahead.  This means possible temporary disruption to the website and delays with newsletters and communications over coming weeks, however we shall do our best to keep the services of OOSO on track and build on them into the future.

BBQ and Cycle Ride

Please don't forget that we're hosting our annual BBQ and cycle ride a bit earlier this year, and coming up soon, on Saturday 5th August.

The BBQ will take place from 3pm at Wytham Woods near Oxford, finishing at around 6pm. We are very fortunate to be allowed to use the Oxford Universities barn facility near to the walkers car park, Post Code: OX2 8QQ

Ann Dennis, OOSO Trustee, and of 'Ann's Munchies' fame will be our Head Chef, putting on probably the best BBQ you are ever likely to have.

There's no need to book in advance, just turn up on the day, tickets on arrival are £12.50 per person and a small donation for children would be appreciated. Bring your own bottle if you wish, soft drinks will be provided. As usual there'll be a fun raffle, and if you'd like to donate a prize on the day we'd be very grateful too.

The cycle ride, led by Anne and Nick, will start earlier in the day with two distances to choose from, 25 and 50 miles, taking in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, finishing at the BBQ at around 3pm. If you would like to join in just drop me a line and I'll put you in touch with Anne.

JUMP!

Laura is planning to jump out of a plane (plus parachute!) for OOSO coming up very soon, on Saturday 22nd July, over the beautiful City of Salisbury, taking in incredible views across to the Solent and Needles of the Ilse of White, before Laura lands gently and most gracefully upon the grassy runway of Old Sarum airfield.

Laura suffered with a disease called Achalasia for nine years, seriously affecting her ability to eat and drink, and recently had a life changing oesophagectomy under the inspiring care of our very own Nick Maynard. Laura says "the compassion and comfort I received from OOSO was no different due to the nature of my surgery - to have had the support from OOSO has made my recovery just that little bit easier and for that I wish to sincerely thank them all by completing a sky dive in Salisbury on 22 July 2023."

So please, dig deep! and support Laura by making a small donation via her Enthuse funding page and this link:  https://ooso.enthuse.com/cf/lauralittrell

We'll keep you updated and post the best pics - THANK YOU!!

Café Catch Ups

Our next three café lunches will be as follows:

Monday 10th July 12:30 at Bicester Village Garden Centre, OX25 2NY
Wednesday 12th July at Dobbies Garden Centre, Swindon, SN2 7SE
Tuesday 8th August 12:30 at Yarnton Garden Centre, OX5 1PA

If you would like to attend one or any of these please let me know by email in advance, so we can make sure they can fit us in.