A Cup of Care: How Linda’s Coffee Mornings raised nearly £8,000 for St Luke’s

After her own cancer treatment, Linda Ryder found a simple way to give back – coffee, cake and community. Over six years, her coffee mornings raised nearly £8,000 for St Luke’s, supporting families like her own and leaving a lasting mark on those around her.

For more than six years, Linda Ryder has poured love, resilience and countless cups of coffee into supporting St Luke’s. What began as her personal way of giving back after her own diagnosis soon grew into a much‑loved community tradition – a series of coffee mornings that brought people together and raised an incredible £7,981.35 to help others experiencing similar.

It was after Linda went through chemotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer that she decided she wanted to do her bit and return the support she had received.

“It was actually a friend who sparked the idea”, she recalls. “When I was having chemotherapy, I used to go and sit at the Mustard Tree Centre while I waited for my anti‑sickness tablets to work before I could go in for treatment. The ladies up there were just lovely – absolutely superb.

“After my treatment finished, my friend said to me, ‘You’d like to help St Luke’s, wouldn’t you?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I really would. And Macmillan too.’ But I told her, ‘I don’t want to be up there. I don’t want to be anywhere near the place again.’

“She said, ‘Well, you love baking – why don’t you do coffee mornings?’ And that’s where it all started. I thought, yes, that’s a brilliant idea.”