Simon Armitage, the British Poet Laureate, has written a poem titled "The Campaign" for World Cancer Day at the request of Yorkshire Cancer Research. The charity, marking its centenary, commissioned the work to demystify cancer and celebrate hope. Armitage met 17 patients, families, researchers and fundraisers at the Harrogate centre, including stage‑4 kidney cancer patient Gary Lovelace. He used the dragon metaphor from Sir Harold Mackintosh’s 1926 appeal at Leeds’ Queen’s Hotel. Dr Kathryn Scott, chief executive, said she was moved to tears reading the poem. The piece aims to finish on a positive note and to give people a new way to talk about cancer. The poem will be read at events across Yorkshire and beyond.
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