(Image: Provided)
A cancer support charity could secure £15,000 in funding to help complete vital upgrades to its North Shields base.
Live Well with Cancer, based on Nile Street, has been shortlisted as one of four finalists in the Certas Energy Community Bloom Fund and is now in the running to win one of two £15,000 grants.
Maureen Elliott, founder and chief executive of the charity, said: "One in two of us will get a cancer diagnosis at some point in our lives, and we want to be there to support as many of those people as we can."
"In our first year here, we were working in rooms with no heating at all, wrapped in blankets just to get through the day.
"We've come a long way since then, but this fund would allow us to finish our renovations and finally make this the space our community deserves."
Founder Maureen Elliott
(Image: Provided)
The charity was established in 2019 by Ms Elliott following a 30-year career as a clinical nurse specialist.
She set up the organisation after seeing the need for greater practical and emotional support for people facing cancer.
Each year, the centre welcomes hundreds of visitors who access support groups, creative workshops, movement sessions and complementary therapies.
If successful in securing the funding, the charity plans to renovate its bathrooms and back garden, creating an accessible outdoor area for one-to-one support sessions.
Charity volunteer Mary Udberg
(Image: Provided)
It would also install a proper kitchenette upstairs to replace the current setup, which has no running water.
The Community Bloom Fund was launched in 2025 by Certas Energy to support grassroots projects that make a genuine difference in their local areas.
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Niki Holt, marketing director at Certas Energy, said: "We set up the Community Bloom Fund to support projects that make a real, practical difference in local communities and this project is a perfect example of that.
"Live Well with Cancer offers something so many families will need at some point, a genuine community around them at one of the hardest times in their lives."
Voting is now open and will close at midnight on September 8.