A link worker and a client from CRT Together are sitting on a bench outside laughing together

No one faces cancer alone: supporting coalfield communities in Wales

Blog
Published: 26 February 2025
Find out how a partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support and The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is helping people in Welsh ex-mining communities access practical, financial, and emotional support.  
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Jenny Savage Digital Content Editor at Macmillan

A cancer diagnosis can bring physical, emotional and financial challenges. But in the former coalmining communities of Wales, those challenges can be even greater.  

CRT Together is a partnership between The Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) and Macmillan Cancer Support. It was created to support people affected by cancer living in Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board area in South Wales. This area includes the former coalfield communities of Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Ogmore Valley, Garw Valley, and Llynfi Valley.  

Former coalmining communities in Wales face some of the highest deprivation and health inequalities in the UK. People here experience higher cancer rates and lower life expectancy, making access to support even more critical. 

 

Managing the impacts of cancer 

 

CRT Together aims to help people to manage the additional impacts of cancer through housing, financial, transport, and emotional support. They also signpost people to other services and work closely with health partners. 

Ann Broadway, who is a development manager at CTR Together, explains: “One of our clients was refusing treatment at home. She didn’t want her nurse to come to her home because she was embarrassed about the state of her garden that she hadn’t been able to maintain due to illness.  

“We were able to signpost to a local gardening service that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) had funded. The gardener wanted to give back to CRT so he did the garden for free.“  

How CRT Together can help

A link worker from CRT together is with a client. They are looking at a Macmillan Cancer Support booklet together.

Housing support

Providing advice and signposting for people who need to adapt their home, or need help with mortgage or rent payments.  

Financial support

Helping people access grants, benefits, and financial services to help with the extra costs cancer can bring.

Emotional and family support

Referrals to free counselling, support groups, one-on-one sessions and services like Macmillan Buddies for people living with cancer and their families.

Transport assistance

Connecting people in rural in areas with limited public transport access community transport networks and volunteer driver schemes.
 
Ann Broadway explains: “We had a gentleman who is a veteran living in Rhondda Cynon Taff. He had been walking 25 miles to and from his chemotherapy appointments because he was unaware that there were transport services that could take him.
“We arranged for transport to be provided for him through a local cancer service. He's now a volunteer driver for the service to support others in similar situations.”
 
You can hear more about the service and the background to the project in this video.

 

 

 

Breaking Barriers Fund

Macmillan also provides funding to CRT Together through the Breaking Barriers Fund to bridge gaps in services. This has helped to:
  • Support a local cancer charity to open a hairdressing salon within their centre.
  • Support a man whose daughter and wife have cancer to set up a support group in north Bridgend, an area where there were no cancer services.
  • Help a local cancer charity called Ray of Light get solar panels and a battery pack for their building so that their service could stay open longer.

     

Ann Broadway, development manager talking to someone about the CTR Together project. They're sitting at a table with cancer information booklets and posters around them.

Why Macmillan has funded this project

Macmillan Cancer Support partnered with Coalfields Regeneration Trust on this programme because we want to tackle inequities in cancer care. We know that communities in former mining regions report higher cancer incidence rates and lower life expectancy and that people in these areas are at a higher risk of facing barriers to accessing cancer care.  

 

Read more about Macmillan’s strategy

Support if you are affected by cancer

Get support from CRT Together

 

CRT Together is here for you if you are affected by cancer, and are living in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board Areas including Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Ogmore Valley, Garw Valley, Llynfi Valley.

You can call, text or email the team.  

 

 

Support from Macmillan

 

The Macmillan Support Line offers information and support to everyone affected by cancer. We are open 8am to 8pm 7 days a week. Call us for free on 0808 808 0000 or chat with an adviser online.

More information and resources

We have information about the impacts of cancer such as: 

We also have cancer information in Welsh Cymraeg.

About our information

This information has been written and edited by Macmillan's Digital Content team in collaboration with Ann Broadway, development manager at CRT Together.

Learn more about our Digital Content Editors and how we produce our cancer information.

Tag: WAM, GENS

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