Measham, Leicestershire · since 2016
After cancer treatment, recovery is a road. Nobody should walk it alone.
Cancer Active Recovery Support runs free, small-group exercise and wellbeing programmes — In the Pink, P.A.L.S. and six community cancer hubs — so that people rebuild strength, confidence and friendship after a diagnosis.
Building confidence. Building self-esteem.
Every programme is free of charge to the people who need it.
What we do
Free, condition-focused programmes at the point where the clinic ends and community begins
A stepping-stone between hospital treatment and everyday life: physical rehabilitation, peer support and information, delivered by experienced teachers in small groups.
P.A.L.S. on the move
Exercise, company and a reason to leave the house — the same model as In the Pink, for men after prostate cancer.
- Breast cancer rehabilitation
In the Pink
A free, small-group physical rehabilitation programme for women treated for breast cancer — rebuilding strength, range of movement and confidence with teachers experienced in post-treatment recovery.
Free to every participantAbout this programme - Prostate Active Living Support
P.A.L.S.
An activity-based support programme for men who have had treatment for prostate cancer, using exercise and small-group work to manage side-effects, regain fitness and take back control.
Piloted from 2025About this programme - Monthly drop-in support
Community cancer hubs
Public drop-in hubs in Moira, Hinckley, Leicester, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray and Market Harborough — information, guest speakers, signposting and a friendly cup of tea for anyone affected by cancer.
6 hubs across LeicestershireAbout this programme - Confidence, friendship, new activities
Wellbeing and peer support
Nutritional and wellbeing support, participant networks and the chance to try new activities together — because recovery is social as well as physical.
30 volunteers give their timeAbout this programme
In numbers
Small charity, wide reach
Figures below are drawn from the Charity Commission register and our own website; where a figure is a working estimate it is marked in the handover notes.
- Supporting recovery since
- 2016
- Community cancer hubs
- 6
- Volunteers giving their time
- 30
- Cost to every participant
- £0
The community lottery
C.A.R.S. Community Lottery
A pound a week that keeps every programme free. At least 60p in every £1 goes straight to the work.
- Ticket
- £1 a week
- Draw
- Every Friday
- Top prize
- £2,000
Odds of the top prize: 1 in 142,506 per entry.
Pick your numbers
5 from 1–30, or take a lucky dip.
We draw every Friday
At 12 noon, with results on the winners page the same day.
Winners are told directly
Privately, by email — and most of your pound funds free programmes.
Recent winners
Real draws, protected identities
Results from our most recent weekly draws. Winners are always published as initials and town only.
J. M., Measham
First prize · £2,000 · 14 August 2026
S. P., Hinckley
Second prize · £50 · 14 August 2026
A. K., Loughborough
Third prize · £5 · 14 August 2026
18+You must be 18 or over to enter or win. Please play responsibly.
Our story
From one exercise class in 2016 to a charity across four counties
C.A.R.S. began as Supporting Confidence Through Exercise: the simple observation that women finishing treatment for breast cancer were being discharged into a body that felt different, with nowhere to rebuild it. In the Pink was the answer — small groups, experienced teachers, and everything free of charge.
In 2022 the work re-registered as Cancer Active Recovery Support, a charitable incorporated organisation, and widened its scope: monthly community cancer hubs, the P.A.L.S. programme for men after prostate cancer, and partnerships that stretch into Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.
Read the full storyStay in touch
A short update, a few times a year
Programme dates, hub news and where the lottery money went. No pressure, no pre-ticked boxes.