A Surprise Visit to The Leveson Centre from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
26 Feb 2024
On Monday 12th February, we were honoured to receive a surprise visit from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to our cancer support centre, The Leveson Centre!
(Image description: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with York Against Cancer Chairman Ian Yeowart and wife Sue Yeowart)
Julie Russell, York Against Cancer CEO, states, “We had both York MPs, Rachael Maskell and Julian Sturdy at our anniversary event a few weeks ago and Julian has been talking about us back at Westminster apparently, because we found out that we were going to get a visit from a senior cabinet minister, but we didn’t find out until half an hour before his arrival that it was going to be the PM.

(Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with CEO Julie Russell, charity founder Steve Leveson and Ian Yeowart.)
“We thought: ‘Wow! Let’s get the kettle on and make him a cup of coffee!'”
We have been so proud of all The Leveson Centre has achieved since opening last year, helping close to 5,000 people who have been affected by cancer.
Julie continued, “The number we have helped has exceeded our expectations. We always knew the centre would be much-needed, but we didn’t know what the demand was going to be.
“I feel extremely proud of what we have done here. It was about a year in the design process making sure that whatever was going to happen was what cancer patients really needed.”

(Image description: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and MP Julian Sturdy with our York Against Cancer team of staff, trustees and volunteers.)
Some of our staff, trustees and on-duty volunteers sat down with the Prime Minister and Conservative MP Julian Sturdy to chat about the support we offer at The Leveson Centre, and later gave a guided tour around our facilities.
It is wonderful to receive recognition for the charity’s work from Parliament and the Prime Minister himself. We hope that this visit will help to cast a light on the services we have available for cancer patients and their loved ones across the region.
For more information on the services we have available at The Leveson Centre, get in touch on 01904 202647 or email support@thelevesoncentre.org.uk.