Meet the Makers : Cosy Cottage
Ever wondered where all the lovely things inside a Treatment Bag actually come from?
Well, we thought it was about time we introduced you to some of the brilliant people behind them.
First up: the little pot of lip balm tucked inside our Treatment Bags in the North.
Small? Yes.
Rather lovely? Also yes.
And with a pretty special story behind it.
Wherever we can, we love working with businesses with a connection to the communities our bags are supporting. So for our northern Treatment Bags, we didn’t have to look too far.
Our lip balms come from Cosy Cottage Soap, an independent Yorkshire business based in Malton and founded by qualified chemist Clara.
A Business with a Story
Cosy Cottage itself began following Clara’s experience of breast cancer. During her recovery, she started looking more closely at the ingredients in everyday skincare products and, putting her chemistry background to good use, began making her own.
Clara wanted to move away from ingredients such as sulphates, parabens and other artificial additives commonly found in commercial skincare.
Instead? Naturally derived oils, waxes and botanicals, with gentleness and wellbeing very much at their heart.
And she really did start small – in the kitchen of a 350-year-old cottage in the Yorkshire countryside.
There’s another lovely connection too. One of Cosy Cottage’s earliest soaps was developed alongside a Leeds cancer-support charity after people going through treatment found some conventional soaps and shower gels too harsh for their skin.
Fast forward to today and Cosy Cottage has grown into a thriving Yorkshire business, with a lovely shop in Malton and products heading off to customers and stockists much further afield.
Including, of course, to us..
A Little Pot Making a Difference
Because some of those little pots of lip balm have a rather different journey ahead of them.
They make their way to our northern hub, where our volunteers wrap them individually in tissue paper and tuck them inside a bag alongside all the other carefully chosen bits and pieces.
Their eventual destination? Someone going through cancer treatment.
And that’s what makes this particular connection feel rather special.
Cancer played a part in the beginning of Clara’s story and Cosy Cottage. Now something created by that business is finding its way into the hands of other people going through cancer treatment.
We think the people behind the things in our bags deserve a little love too, so Cosy Cottage seemed the perfect place to start.
As Clara said 'We are so pleased to be part of the treatment bag charity, Its great to know that patients love our little lip balms and find them nourishing and helpful. Its such a great charity to be a part of and we look forward to working with the little treatment bag charity for the continued future.'
Thank you to everyone at Cosy Cottage for being a little part of Treatment Bag.
And if you happen to be in Malton, do pop in and say hello. Just try not to blame us if you leave with rather more than a lip balm!
And if you’d like to help another little lip balm – and everything else that goes with it – find its way into a Treatment Bag, £20 provides a complete bag for one NHS cancer patient.
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