Our story
It started with a cup that was too high to reach
Not a grand plan — just the observation that women finishing treatment for breast cancer were being sent home into bodies that felt different, with nowhere to rebuild them.
For many people, getting the all-clear is the start rather than the end of recovery. They live with reminders of treatment every day: scar tissue that stops a zip being pulled up, lost muscle strength that makes it hard to lift a grandchild, sporting activities given up because the body no longer feels like their own.
In 2016, in Measham on the Leicestershire–Derbyshire border, Supporting Confidence Through Exercise was registered as a charity to change that. Its answer was In the Pink: small groups, teachers experienced in post-treatment recovery, and — because a cancer diagnosis is expensive enough — no charge to take part.
“The In the Pink programme quite simply gave me my life back.”
What participants said kept coming back to the same two words: confidence and self-esteem. Friendships formed on the programme outlasted it. Women went back to work, back to the leisure centre, back to cuddling their grandchildren.
In December 2022 the work re-registered as Cancer Active Recovery Support, a charitable incorporated organisation, with a wider purpose: everyone, whatever their diagnosis, age, gender or finances, should be able to access free support to improve their wellbeing. Monthly community cancer hubs followed across Leicestershire; P.A.L.S. brought the same model to men after prostate cancer; and partners from Macmillan to local businesses helped keep it all free.
Why a lottery?
Free programmes still cost money to run — teachers, venues, equipment, hub refreshments. Grants and fundraising events carry most of it, but they arrive in lumps. A community lottery is a small, steady way for supporters to give a pound a week, with most of every ticket going straight to the work. It is regulated, it is for adults only, and we would always rather someone gave a little than played more than feels comfortable.
Where we are now: a small charity with wide reach — six hubs, two condition-specific programmes, around thirty volunteers, and a founding belief that has not changed since that first class.
Timeline
Ten years, one purpose
2016
Supporting Confidence Through Exercise
SCTE registers as a charity in October 2016, built around In the Pink — a free physical rehabilitation programme for women treated for breast cancer, developed by Michelle Scott-Worthington.
2020
Building confidence, building self-esteem
The programme's aims sharpen around confidence and self-esteem as much as fitness; participants describe it as 'the start of getting my life back'.
2022
Cancer Active Recovery Support is registered
In December 2022 the work re-registers as a charitable incorporated organisation, Cancer Active Recovery Support (C.A.R.S.), charity no. 1201440, widening the scope to everyone after a cancer diagnosis.
2024
Community cancer hubs and new partners
Monthly drop-in hubs open across Leicestershire, and supporting partners including Macmillan Cancer Support, Cadent, Severn Trent, Lions International and QPI help keep the work free.
2025
P.A.L.S. is piloted
Prostate Active Living Support brings the In the Pink model to men after prostate cancer treatment, with the first pilot programme in 2025.
2026
The community lottery launches
A £1-a-week community lottery is set up so that supporters can fund the free programmes in a small, regular way — with most of every ticket going to the work. The first weekly draw took place in spring 2026.