WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
It’s hard to believe, but Candis first began back in May 1962 and celebrated its 60th birthday in May 2022. We have come a long way from our first leaflet to being a best-selling women’s monthly magazine in the UK, donating more than £56 million to health charities. Much of that total has been donated to health charities through the Candis Big Give, which have used the money in various ways – some have used it to fund medical research, others to buy life-saving equipment and pay for vital services and community projects.
Donations to date – the running total is £56,691,389, here’s where your money goes…
Cancer and Polio Research Fund (1962 – 2002) £31,620,386
Within its first year, Candis – which was then a leaflet reporting on a football pool called the Cancer and Polio Research Fund – raised £100,000 for charity. And from that day onwards, the total money raised has increased at a rapid rate!
By January 1965 – less than three years after the company was first founded – charitable donations had topped £1m, and in 1971 the figure reached an astonishing £6m. By this time, Candis became a fortnightly newsletter costing 15 new pence.
When Candis upgraded from a simple newsletter to a full colour magazine costing 60 pence in November 1982, it had raised £18m for charity. By the late 1990s, the magazine was given a new look and increased its pages from 28 to 124 each month.
Marie Curie Cancer Care (1998 – 2012) £5,500,979
In the late 1990’s the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) was developed by Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute to offer palliative care options for patients at end of life. The system helped medical professionals to transfer end-of-life care from the hospice to hospital. The LCP is no longer is use and new methodologies are advance care planning are used to ensure patients can die with dignity.
Marie Curie is best known for its network of nurses who are trained to help people with terminal illnesses, including cancer, near the end of their lives. Marie Curie Nurses visit people’s homes to provide care and support to patients and their families when they need it most.
Macmillan Cancer Support (1993 – 2013) £3,304,767
Providing specialty trained nurses and therapists to help people with cancer get through their treatment, Macmillan Cancer Support offer advice, practically and over the phone, to help those with a cancer diagnosis every step of the way. Volunteers will help with everyday problems and campaigners raise money to improve cancer care and community support.
Bliss, the Special Care Baby Charity (1990 – 2009) £3,309,982
The charity is committed to ensuring that every premature or sick baby born in the UK has the best chance of survival. By supporting families and health professionals, campaigning for change and fundraising to pay for life-changing research, the charity strives to give babies the best possible start in life.
This charity is now called Bliss for Babies Born Premature or Sick.
Liverpool University Cancer Tissue Bank Research Centre (1989 – 1993) £2,190,977
Following a donation of nearly £2.2 million from Candis Club, the Liverpool Tissue Bank was established at the University of Liverpool in 1993. The resource centre collects samples from a wide variety of tissue types, including breast cancer and pancreas tumours, donated by consenting patients who have undergone surgery for cancer. Thousands of tissue samples have been carefully stored to provide researchers with invaluable material for studying the underlying mechanisms involved in diseases such as cancer.
The British Heart Foundation (2002 – 2008) £1,549,998
As the largest independent funder of cardiovascular research in the UK, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has been pioneering in developing ground-breaking research which has helped to halve the number of deaths from heart and circulatory disease in the UK over the last 60 years. The charity funds over £100 millions of life-saving heart research each year and their work has transformed cardiac treatment and care for many.
To local groups via the Charities Aid Foundation (1990 – 2009) £914,053
In the Candis Club Community and School Awards, up to £8,000 a month was donated to community groups nominated by readers via the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). From musical instruments, sportswear, a climbing wall and creative play equipment for schools to double glazing and new chairs for community centres, these donations made a huge difference to community projects countrywide.
To ICAN (1989) £220,000
The charity was established to help children In the UK to learn to talk and understand words. Having helped 1.9 million children to develop the skills they need to make themselves understood, the charity works with families, educators and professionals to provide the resources needed to ensure that children are not left behind.
This charity is now called Speech and Language UK.
Tommy’s (2006 – 2009) £246,876
The leading baby charity is committed to ending the heartbreak of baby loss and making pregnancy and birth safer through ground-breaking research, advice for parents and professionals and support to those who have experienced loss through miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.
Children’s Hospices UK (2008 – 2010) £303,774
The charity was established to provide a national voice for children’s palliative care in the UK by raising awareness, improving statutory funding of hospices, and to foster collaboration between children’s hospice services and to help develop professional practice.
This charity is now called Together for Short Lives.
The Candis Big Give (2010 – present day) £3,100,000
Charitable giving has always been at the heart of what Candis Club does and we have been one of the longest-standing Charity Champions, having worked with the Big Give for fourteen years. Since 2010, we have taken part in the UK’s biggest match funding campaign, the Christmas Challenge supporting hundreds of charities to help to raise more than £13 million.