Pride in Oldham award opens gates to Buckingham Palace for Gill

Gill Nuttall at the Queen's garden party at Buckingham Palace

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A PRIDE in Oldham Award can open lots of doors but rarely does it open the gates to Buckingham Palace.

But that's exactly what it did for last year's worthy winner of the Health Worker Award and Shaw-based Melanoma UK founder Gill Nuttall.

Dubbed "one in a million" by fellow Shaw woman Sarah Swindells ­- who nominated her for the award as one of the many skin cancer sufferers she has helped ­- Gill was invited to one of the Queen's exclusive garden parties on Tuesday in honour of her incredible work with melanoma patients.

Gill was invited as a guest of the Lord Lieutentant of Manchester, Warren Smith, following her worthy win at the Pride in Oldham Awards last November.

She and husband Mike, who helps to run the Church Road advocacy and support charity, attended the royal gathering along with fellow outstanding individuals and community stalwarts from around the country.

And she not only saw the Queen and Prince Philip but also Kate and William, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were also there.

Gill says the whole day was overwhelming but admitted when the invitation arrived in the post she initially thought it was a speeding fine!

"A couple of days after the pride awards I had a call from the Lord Lieutenant's office saying they knew about the award and wanted to write to me about something," Gill told us.

"A few weeks went by and I forgot all about it. Then a letter with an official crest on it arrived and I thought, "Oh no what have I done," I thought I'd been caught for speeding or something! When I opened it, it was an invitation to Buckingham Palace. Can you imagine how excited I was and it was all because of the pride award.

"It was just the most surreal experience.

"You got to walk around the grounds and it was a proper royal afternoon tea with cucumber sandwiches and little cakes, really cute.

"Then at exactly four o'clock the National Anthem started playing and despite the fact there were 8,000 people there the whole grounds went deathly silent. It was a very emotional moment and made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

"Then the Queen and Prince Philip arrived followed by Kate and William who came to chat to the line we were standing in.

"It was a fantastic experience and you only get invited once so it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

The Melanoma UK journey began when close family friend Jon Herron was diagnosed with the disease in 2002.

"Looking back, I didn't think for a moment that melanoma would take his life - I was probably guilty of just thinking of it in terms of skin cancer - a mistake that many people still make," said Gill.

"Jon relapsed in 2006, again in 2007 and sadly, he died in May, 2008, aged just 30. When I realised he was terminally ill, I started looking for a treatment for him - I trawled the world twice over and found nothing.

"I decided that I would raise some awareness of melanoma, do some fundraising and walk away once I'd achieved that goal."

But thankfully that never happened and Gill is now an integral part of Melanoma UK, the only charity which offers support to advanced patients and their families.

Gill, Mike and the small team of dedicated volunteers have helped Melanoma UK become so influential and essential in its field it is now part of the Government's melanoma taskforce.

It contributes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) during the appraisals of treatments and is part of several study groups throughout Europe.