This week marks my last week as public affairs intern at Macmillan. It has only been a grand total of 14 working weeks, but I already feel completely comfortable in the office and working with the wonderful public affairs team. Without sounding too soppy, they are really an amazing bunch of people, who despite all being very different and doing very important jobs, still find the time to be genuinely friendly and caring. Okay that was a bit soppy, but it is true that the whole organisation places a massive emphasis on personal development, even for its interns, and I have felt truly cared for.
But enough with all that emotional business. I’d like to reflect on the amazing projects I have had a chance to contribute to at Macmillan since October.
Cancer Voices
In my first week as intern I was invited to come along and help at the annual Cancer Voices conference, held by Macmillan as an information forum for the hundreds of people around the UK who represent Macmillan in their communities.
I was able to lend a hand at the public affairs’ team’s workshop to introduce the General Election campaign to the Cancer Voices. The first thing that struck me was how interactive and attentive the delegates were. I had been to other conferences before, had sat through lectures and seminars at university, even to big cancer fundraising events, but I had never seen a group of people more engaged than those at Cancer Voices. Everyone was so keen to ask questions, to understand and to help. I saw the passion of what people do at Macmillan and who they are doing it for from the get go, and was able to chat to people there and understand what Macmillan means to them.
Britain Against Cancer
On 9th December I was involved with the massive event that is the annual Britain Against Cancer Conference. The largest conference of its kind, BAC welcome healthcare stakeholders from all sectors, including healthcare professionals, charities, politicians and patients. The Conference was an opportunity for all these groups to come together and discuss cancer priorities for the next Government.
I was involved with a variety of different aspects of the day, including manning the Macmillan Public Affairs twitter account (@MacmillnaPa , why not give them a follow) and our information stand at the event. The day was a huge success with a bunch of major policy announcements, though meeting 3 MPs in one day has to be my highlight... yeah I’m a politics geek, Jeremy Hunt and Andy Burnham are basically celebrities.
I’m so glad I had the chance to work on these massive projects, I feel really lucky to have been at Macmillan during such an exciting few months.
Being my third internship, I thought I knew what to expect, but I didn’t. The experience has been so rewarding and I have genuinely felt like a valued member of team. A massive thanks to Macmillan and the Public Affairs team for everything.
- Abigail Bishop-Laggett
