About Liskeard Breathers

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The Liskeard and South East Cornwall Breather’s Group was founded on 26th May 2006 by Joe Barr, Mick Elliott, Vicky Scott, Peter Krogman, Jenny Jenkins, Leonard Vowler, Pip Jenkin and Alan and Lynda Williams. They had been together on an NHS pulmonary rehabilitation course and were anxious to keep the benefits once the course was finished, so they decided to set up a group where people with COPD and other long-term conditions could get together and share experiences and take some gentle exercise. The group would be entirely independent of the NHS and would take the motto: Started by Patients, Run by Patients, for Patients.

The group received the backing of the NHS, started to gain members and began to look for funds for various projects. One of the most important of these was the schools project, where members of the group visit local schools to give talks on COPD and the importance of not smoking. One of the schools estimated that the proportion of young people smoking in the school had fallen from 25% to 15% after the talk. Another major project was to buy a quantity of nebulisers which were supplied to local surgeries for use by COPD patients at the surgery.

We meet every Tuesday afternoon at the Liskerrett Centre in Liskeard, where we chat, drink tea, perform gentle exercises and receive talks from health professionals. The group has made videos of the group exercises for use outside the meeting, which are also available for anyone with similar conditions at http://www.youtube.com/user/BreathersGroup.

The group has also started up additional groups in the surrounding area, such as Looe, Saltash, Torpoint and Pensilva.  

The group received its ultimate accolade on 17thSeptember 2013 when we received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, which was presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho. Details of the event can be found on the Queens Award page.