A SUPPORT group celebrated winning a top hospital award with a special strawberry tea.

Members of the Daylight group – for women with gynaecological cancers – met to enjoy the treat after being chosen as overall winners at the Celebrating Success Awards by Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.

The group, set up in 2002 for women in Huddersfield and Halifax, won a £5,000 bursary at the hospital awards for innovation.

The prize was given in memory of Gordon McLean, the trust’s former chairman, who died suddenly this year.

Pat Marsden, clinical nurse specialist in gynaecology cancers and founder of the Daylight group, said: “I was delighted the group won. We are all very proud.

“The plan is to reinvest the prize money into creating a website to promote Daylight and to stage a special ‘pamper day’ for current and former members.”

The group meets every month at the George Hotel, Huddersfield, to give women the opportunity to share their experiences and support each other.

Group member Denise Emmerson said: “Daylight has been so helpful to me.

“When I had questions about radiotherapy – something I knew nothing about before my diagnosis – I could ask questions, express concerns and worries and chat to people who had been through the same thing.”

Sheila Cotton, who has been with Daylight since it started and came up with the name for the group, said: “It was lovely to hear we had won the award.

“The people at the group have become my friends. I can’t ever imagine a time when I will stop going to the meetings.”

Daylight has proved such a success that other groups have also been set up in other parts of Yorkshire.