“Right everyone… time to check your boobies!”
Not the sentence most people expect to hear in a Health & Safety meeting. But that’s exactly what happened at Shotton Mill last week, when Bev, our Operations Director, and Joanne, our Facilities Manager, delivered a breast cancer awareness presentation following their recent work with Prevent Breast Cancer.
We couldn’t be prouder of them. The session came after a visit to the new National Breast Imaging Academy, where the pair were shown around the new facility and learned more about the charity’s work around prevention, early detection, research and training.
Following the visit, they wanted to bring some of those conversations back to site and raise awareness of men’s breast cancer in a way that felt open, honest and real.
The statistic that stopped the room
The presentation focused on breast cancer awareness, symptoms, self-checking and the importance of early detection, including a statistic that stopped a few people in their tracks: around 390 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK.
A lot of people still think breast cancer only affects women, so opening up those conversations in a male-dominated environment felt especially important. Joanne also spoke openly about her own experience with breast cancer, helping bring a very personal and human side to the session.
There were serious moments, emotional moments… and a fair few laughs too. Because if there’s one thing Bev and Joanne aren’t capable of doing, it’s making anything feel stiff or formal.
Positive feedback all round
Following the session, the team received some lovely feedback from Peter Ashton, HSE Manager at John F Hunt Regeneration.
“I would like to thank you for delivering your breast cancer awareness presentation,” he said. “The presentation was informative, engaging and it helped reinforce the importance of awareness… feedback from those who attended has been very positive.”
He also spoke about the wider impact sessions like this can have across site culture. “Contributions like this play an important role in supporting a strong safety culture. We would welcome the opportunity to do this again at a later date.”
For the team, that meant a lot to hear.
Nikki Barraclough, Chief Executive at Prevent Breast Cancer also shared her appreciation.
“A huge thank you to you Beverley Walsh, Rebecca Tilling and Elara Group for your amazing support and incredible fundraising.”
The wider response
The response to the session also reached beyond the site itself, with people across the Health & Safety industry praising the openness of the conversation and the importance of bringing awareness into workplace settings.
One industry professional said: “Health & Safety is about so much more than procedures and paperwork sometimes. It’s about genuinely looking after people. Massive respect to the team that put this together – that takes real courage. The shared life experience will stay with many people and genuinely encourage them to get checked early. These are the kind of talks that make a real difference and strengthen the culture around caring for one another, not just at work but in life as well.”
More than the day job
At Elara, we spend a lot of time talking about standards, wellbeing and looking after people across sites. Sometimes that means keeping environments clean, safe and running smoothly. And sometimes it means standing in front of 30 men at a Health & Safety meeting talking about breast cancer awareness and telling everyone to check themselves properly.
Both matter.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Prevent Breast Cancer for all their support, and well done again to Bev and Joanne for turning an important topic into a conversation people will genuinely remember.
