THEY are the 'angels' who lend an ear to anyone who needs support when a cancer diagnosis becomes too much.

Wessex Cancer Trust opened the doors to its Bournemouth support centre one year ago to provide free counselling, complementary therapies and other support services to people across Dorset coming to terms with a devastating cancer diagnosis.

But the centre at Fairview House, Hinton Road, simply could not operate without its volunteer befrienders who listen without judgement - and now the charity is calling on more kind-hearted people to join the team.

Wendy Kelly, a befriender, said for many people, putting their foot through the door for the first time is often the hardest but she said the volunteers aim to make the centre a home from home.

“People say they don’t look on this as a support centre, they feel like they are going to a friend’s house with a listening ear," she said.

“Our main concern is the client. They are called by first names. It is just like a happy family.

“The nice thing about it here is that it isn’t all about cancer. This is a place where people can step off the world.”

Wendy, who battled head and neck cancer in 2007 and breast cancer in 2010, added: “I can empathise with what people are going through. It’s surreal. When I got my diagnosis, I was up there looking down on me. My first one was quite serious. I am here still though and I feel incredibly lucky to be able to help others. It is about giving something back.

“This is something else, it really is.”

Sheila Wills, also a volunteer befriender, added: “Sometimes people feel they have to be very strong for their friends, family and those around them. They can come into us and they can just offload and not be so strong for a short while, which gives them the strength to go back out there and face another day.”

The Daily Echo launched a fundraising campaign with the Wessex Cancer Trust ahead of the opening in February last year.

Today the specialist team at the centre offers emotional and physical care to anyone affected by cancer with everything from counselling to complementary therapies such as yoga, hypnotherapy, acupuncture and Reiki, financial advice and social gatherings such as book clubs and coffee mornings.

Among those to benefit from the charity’s services is mum and grandma Jo, 61, from Bournemouth, who was diagnosed with lung cancer Christmas 2015 and has recently discovered the cancer is back.

She said: “I don’t know what I’d do without Wendy, she really is a marvellous woman.

“I have the Reiki treatment and every time I have it, I cry. The tears just start to come. It is a beautiful sensation. The therapist says ‘you have nowhere to be and nothing to do for the next hour’ and that feeling is just amazing.”

For Gulsan, who has been supported by the charity since her breast diagnosis one year ago, both the people and the place are a ‘Godsend.’

She said: “I came here anxious and frightened because I didn’t know what sort of reaction I’d get.

“My Goodness, I opened the door and people were smiling. I walked in and it is like home. So quiet, so peaceful, so welcoming and you don’t really want to go home.

“They are angels and I am beyond grateful.”

People of all ages and any cancer diagnosis, including children are welcome to drop in to find out more or make an appointment.

For more information about the charity or to find out about becoming a befriender, call 01202 315824 or email bournemouth.centre@wessexcancer.org.uk