Cancer charity moves into community fire station

A cancer charity which offers support to patients and their families is operating from inside a temporary home at a Gloucestershire fire station.

Maggie's has relocated from its building in Keynsham Road, Cheltenham, as renovation work takes place.

Staff are now based on the ground floor at Cheltenham East Community Fire Station and will be there for about five weeks.

Centre manager Nicky Peregrine said: "It's an unusual space, but it can still work and we've been incredibly busy."

Maggie's has moved into the fire station while renovation work is carried out

Maggie's provides cancer support for anyone living in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire from a centre based in the grounds of Cheltenham General Hospital.

Builders started renovation work in March 2024 and Nicky Peregrine said they had reached the stage where the building was no longer "suitable for visitors".

"We're undergoing a large extension which has been planned for a number of years. The floorboards are up and there's a lot of work going on in there so we need to decamp," she said.

"The fire station team has very kindly offered to give us this space. It's literally just across the road from the hospital so it makes it nice and easy to get here.

"We've got a quiet room that we're able to use and we have some screens around to just offer that degree of privacy to be able to connect with people."

Peer support sessions are still being held despite the move

When the work is completed later this year, the extension will provide addition space for group courses and activities, and enable the charity to welcome and support more people with cancer and their family and friends

Clinical psychologist Dr Hannah Barnes said: "We really want people to know that we're here.

"We're able to offer support and you don't need to be alone going through this experience.

"We've got a wide range of support on offer from practical financial advice, through to psychological support."