Macmillan

he question “how would you like to be remembered?” isn’t one I’ve spent much time considering; I always instinctively preferred Joanna Lumley’s answer (“vaguely”). A select few of us may be memorialised through epitaphs – whether in our own words- “t’finest bloody fast bowler that ever drew breath” (Fred Trueman) – or those of others: “The People’s Princess” (Tony Blair, speaking of Princess Diana). More humorously, epithets may be sublime: “forgotten but not gone” (Terry Wogan, speaking of Barry Cryer -before Barry’s death) or ridiculous, as in the case of William Huskisson, the former Leader of the House of Commons, who was immortalised as the first railway casualty when he fell under Stephenson’s Rocket, the legendary steam locomotive, in 1830 and might therefore accurately be described as ‘chuffed to bits’ Others are remembered for their last words – “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go” (Oscar Wilde – or was it Boris Johnson?) or their gravestone inscriptions – “I told you I was ill” (Spike Milligan).

What is a legacy?

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Create your lasting legacy by leaving a gift to Macmillan in your will, so they can do whatever it takes to support people living with cancer. To find out more, get your free Gifts in Wills guide from Macmillan’s website or call 0300 1000 200 to discuss leaving a gift in your will

gifted in wills

Macmillan Cancer Support in 2022

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A special mission

Like Douglas Macmillan’s, my father died of cancer when I was 18, having himself worked as appeals secretary for a cancer charity for over 20 years. I know he’d have been amazed and hugely grateful for all the support Macmillan is now able to provide to help people who are living with cancer. It may be one of the great challenges still facing medical science. But as long as cancer is with us, people will need advice and support in how to live with it. And that’s why leaving a gift to Macmillan in your will matters so much. You’re giving kindness. Support. The gift of care and friendship.

You could think of your legacy as being a Macmillan nurse, a support line worker, an advisor or coach. Isn’t that a lovely thought?

Leaving a legacy is important to me my gran was given so much help Leaving a legacy is my gran was given so much

Lauren Smith, London

How do you want to be remembered?

It all began with a legacy. Back in 1911, Douglas Macmillan was given £10 by his father before he died of cancer. Over a hundred years later Macmillan keeps that legacy alive

Legacy. It’s a word we hear a lot. After an Olympics or a World Cup, a major event, the death of a head of state – a Queen, indeed. “What is their legacy? What have they left us?” It may be a stadium, a rebuilt community, an idea, a call to action, an inspiration. Very few of us are able to leave that kind of legacy – one that changes the world, touches millions of lives or has a lasting effect on the next generation. But each of us can leave a real and tangible legacy in our will, by means of a bequest.

The thought of your own mortality takes on greater relevance as you reach that age when you start to lose close friends and find yourself increasingly recalling the good times and memories that you shared, and wondering if Four Funerals and a Wedding might be a more topical reflection of your social diary. And then there is the passing of that previous generation – the one you grew up in, the sporting heroes you idolised, the actors you loved, the comedians who made you laugh and the musicians whose music, as the saying goes, provided the soundtrack to your life.

In my case, you could say that every time someone I imitated passes on, a little part of my act dies: Bruce Forsyth, Keith Floyd, Ronnie Corbett, Sean Connery, Tony Benn – but they live on as voices in my head, along with that golden generation of commentators who were so distinctive they became known as the voices of their sport – Bill McLaren, Peter O’Sullevan, Brian Johnston, Richie Benaud, Peter Alliss, Murray Walker. Each of these leaves, through the hours and hours of TV and audio archive, a legacy we treasure and enjoy. The same is true, in a sense, of the friends I’ve lost recently. There’s that shock and sadness at their passing, of course. That moment when it all goes quiet. All the noise, the laughter, the life – stops. But then it’s as if, in their place, you get given a DVD of all the memories – the times you enjoyed, the jokes you loved, the company you shared. It’s a montage you play in your head, a lot at the beginning, then less over time, and more randomly, as something reminds you of them or they pop into your head. It is, in a sense, their legacy.

Napoleon left his hair to be made into bracelets and given to his relatives. By contrast, William Shakespeare famously left his wife his second-best bed

approximately 40 per cent of Macmillan’s fundraised income was from gifts in wills

was gifted in wills to the charity

£90m

was the average value of gifts left in wills

£32,500

40%

In 2021 for Macmillan Cancer Support

“

‘I have received so much help – from how to deal with the cancer to vital financial support’

How to leave a lasting legacy in your will

The services that change lives

Rory Bremner

Macmillan Cancer

With his trademark humour and ability to add a light touch to serious issues, impressionist

asks what we mean

by legacy – and looks at how a gift

left in

can be the most lasting

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Watch: Rory Bremner on what legacy really means

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Bequests take many forms: while Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, bequeathed his birthday, 13 November, to a young girl whose birthday fell on Christmas Day, the Emperor Napoleon left his hair, to be shaved and made into bracelets and given to his relatives. By contrast, William Shakespeare famously left his wife his second-best bed, and Canadian financier Charles Vance Millar bequeathed his Jamaican holiday home to three lawyers who notoriously hated each other. (He also left Jockey Club shares to people who hated racing and Catholic brewery shares to Protestant teetotallers). The magnificently named Portuguese aristocrat Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral da Camara left his money to 70 strangers, selected randomly from the Lisbon telephone directory. None of the beneficiaries knew until they were contacted after his death. Our own legacies may be slightly less dramatic, but no less impactful. And if, like me, you’ve often wished you could have done more for a friend who’s no longer with us, you could make a donation in their memory. Macmillan Cancer Support is one charity that relies on gifts and donations to carry out its brilliant work. And it all began with a legacy. Back in 1911, Douglas Macmillan was given £10 as a birthday present by his father before he died of cancer. Douglas decided to use the money to help people living with the disease, campaigning for more beds in hospitals for cancer patients and even delivering coal to families struggling to keep someone with cancer warm. Over a hundred years later, Macmillan keeps that legacy alive, supporting families, campaigning for better services, even providing grants to help pay heating bills and living expenses as families face extra hardship.

And it all began with a legacy. Back in 1911, Douglas Macmillan was given £10 as a birthday present by his father before he died of cancer. Douglas decided to use the money to help people living with the disease, campaigning for more beds in hospitals for cancer patients and even delivering coal to families struggling to keep someone with cancer warm. Over a hundred years later, Macmillan keeps that legacy alive, supporting families, campaigning for better services, even providing grants to help pay heating bills and living expenses as families face extra hardship. The difference is the number of people now living with cancer – currently over three million in the UK alone, with a new diagnosis every 90 seconds. Encouragingly, though, survival rates have doubled in the past 40 years and so we more often speak about people living with cancer these days, rather than dying from it. And that is where the work of Macmillan Cancer Support is so critical. Helping people live as full a life as possible in the knowledge that support is there every step of the way. It’s pretty much a given that we know, or are related to, someone whose life has been affected by cancer. By leaving a gift to Macmillan in your will, you’re helping them to continue Douglas Macmillan’s legacy in so many ways – this could be them helping people with advice about work and money, offering confidential counselling, providing a vibrant online community or funding Macmillan Buddies to help people living with cancer to feel more supported, less alone. Before I embarked on this feature, I had no idea how much Macmillan depends on gifts in wills for its funding. And I was surprised to learn that in 2022 these types of gifts made up over a third of its fundraised income, funding nearly 40 per cent of its vital services. That same year those services reached 2 million people.

The difference is the number of people now living with cancer – currently over three million in the UK alone, with a new diagnosis every 90 seconds. Encouragingly, though, survival rates have doubled in the past 40 years and so we more often speak about people living with cancer these days, rather than dying from it. And that is where the work of Macmillan Cancer Support is so critical. Helping people live as full a life as possible in the knowledge that support is there every step of the way. It’s pretty much a given that we know, or are related to, someone whose life has been affected by cancer. By leaving a gift to Macmillan in your will, you’re helping them to continue Douglas Macmillan’s legacy in so many ways – this could be them helping people with advice about work and money, offering confidential counselling, providing a vibrant online community or funding Macmillan Buddies to help people living with cancer to feel more supported, less alone. Before I embarked on this feature, I had no idea how much Macmillan depends on gifts in wills for its funding. And I was surprised to learn that in 2021 these types of gifts made up over a third of its fundraised income, funding nearly 40 per cent of its vital services. That same year those services reached 2.4 million people.

approximate % of fundraised income from gifts in wills

gifted in wills

the average value of gifts left in wills

£34,700

£0k

40%

In its earliest usage, a ‘legacy’ was a person – a legate, someone sent out on a special mission. By leaving a gift in your will, you could think of your legacy as being a Macmillan nurse, a support line worker, an advisor – someone real who you’ve appointed to look after a friend or stranger when they need it most. Isn’t that a lovely thought? You can’t take it with you, as the saying goes. It’s the ultimate organ donation. And it needn’t be hard. Macmillan offers a Free Will Service and a Gifts in Wills guide to help you draw up your legacy. They are simple and helpful, and you’re not even under any obligation to leave anything to Macmillan, although, of course, that would be hugely appreciated.

You could think of your legacy as being a Macmillan nurse, a support line worker, an advisor or coach. Isn’t that a lovely thought?

As to how we are remembered, well, most of us would probably settle for being remembered as kind, good company, a good friend, parent or grandparent. But the knowledge that, in your will, you’ve left a gift that Macmillan can use to help those who need support means you’ve done something more. You’ve left a legacy, and in doing so you’ve ensured that the £10 given by Douglas Macmillan’s father now supports millions when they need it most. Isn’t that something worth being remembered for?