For many people, there is no trouble so overpowering that it cannot be lessened a little by a cup of tea.

Tom Sewel

For many people, there is no trouble so overpowering that it cannot be lessened a little by a cup of tea. Exotic in origin but reassuringly mundane, tea is a powerful potion for soothing agitated minds, creating an opportunity anywhere, anytime, to relax and regroup.

When it's on offer in a Maggie's Cancer Care Centre, it takes on an even greater significance. "Coming to Maggie's is quite different to being led down a hospital corridor to a meeting room and asked to talk about how you feel. With the kettle on, you start to talk without realising it," says Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres. She sees the traditional British cuppa as having a crucial role to play in the work they do.

To provide the supportive environment that allows people to open up about their worries in their own time, a cup of tea is the perfect solution.

People have been brewing up the leaves of the plant camellia sinensis for around 5000 years. After water, it is the most commonly drunk beverage in the world, with consumption currently estimated at about 120 million litres a day.

In the past 30 years studies have been conducted all over the world into the health-giving properties of tea, but that's not why Maggie's sees the humble tea bag as such a vital component of the service it offers. Many people find that the hospital system is too busy or too impersonal to help them cope with the trauma of finding out that they or a relative has cancer. Maggie's provides a place where people can come to talk about their feelings in their own time without the pressure to come up with fast answers.

Norrie Brown, a visitor to Maggie's Fife centre, sums it up. "When we walked out of the hospital we were in a state of shock. We wandered into Maggie's and everybody was so friendly - before we knew it we were sitting down with a cup of tea."

Faced with doctors and nurses trying to deal with as many patients as they can, it is a common reaction for people to feel that they are not able to have a meaningful conversation or that they are simply getting in the way. By giving them somewhere to go that is away from the hospital environment and offering them something immediately comforting, Maggie's encourages people to feel like equals with the professionals they are talking to. Laura Lee is certain about the value of this approach. "The first thing we do when someone walks in the door is offer them a cup of tea. It is not contrived, it is a deliberate tactic within the organisation. We take people over to the kettle and while the kettle is boiling they start to talk about what they're feeling and before they know it they have started the relationship with that member of staff. And that relationship continues over as long a period as the person wants. That member of staff knows their story and they don't have to start at the beginning each time they come into the centre."

The simple act of making a cup of tea for somebody also allows Maggie's staff to establish a rapport with people without putting any undue pressure on them. Lesley Howells, head of Maggie's Dundee centre and a clinical psychologist, says: "So much of cancer is unknown and unfamiliar, and that feeds people's anxieties about it. Making a cup of tea is a routine ritual that everybody understands. It offers them something safe and ordinary at a moment when they may be feeling lost and alone. At the core of our approach to anxiety management is the recognition that people need to feel relaxed and at ease in order to give voice to their concerns."

All cancer information and support specialists, whatever their background, begin their spell at Maggie's by spending time in the kitchen to get a full appreciation of what makes this technique so worthwhile. Through this induction, they learn that the tea ritual is a simple path to follow which has very complex outcomes on many levels. However basic it seems, it is a shared opening that allows the gradual healing process to begin. For visitors, being greeted and treated to a cup of tea sets them at ease with the same person who will be able, when they are ready, to answer any questions they have.

Maggie's is not in the business of making people endless cups of tea, though. After the first visit, guests are encouraged to treat the Maggie's Centre like the house of a good friend, dropping in at any time and feeling more than welcome to put the kettle on when they do. The purpose of this is not just to make people feel more at home, but also to begin the difficult process of bringing normality back to their lives. When people take responsibility for making their own cups of tea, they have already begun to reassert some control. It's a small but very important step in helping them restore their confidence in themselves.

For the past two years, Nambarrie, the tea company, has made sure that Maggie's teapots never run dry. Paul Simpson is brand manager at Nambarrie and is enthusiastic about the ongoing partnership, in which the company not only provides tea bags for the centres, but also for gift bags at fundraising events.

"We hope that the value for Maggie's extends beyond free tea," he says. "Hopefully, it will broaden awareness among Nambarrie consumers of the important work being done by Maggie's."

How you can support the work of Maggie's centres

Giving in-kind support is one hugely valuable way that companies can help Maggie's.

As well as Nambarrie, which provides the centres with free tea bags, Maggie's has other much valued corporate friends giving in-kind support. Pinpoint Scotland Ltd of Edinburgh, a publishing and direct mailing company, has helped the charity save precious time and money by printing 6000 copies of the Edinburgh centre's newsletter free of charge and also stuffing the newsletters into envelopes and mailing them. Apex International, the hotel chain, donates rooms in its Edinburgh and Dundee hotels for VIP guests attending Maggie's functions, while Kangaroo Self Storage offers free storage to Maggie's centres and offices in Dundee and Glasgow.

Shivonne Graham, head of corporate relations for Maggie's, says: "Receiving in-kind support from companies makes a huge difference. The level of kindness and the innovative ideas that companies come up with never ceases to amaze us. All of these acts of kindness help Maggie's to keep the running costs of our centres, offices and events down to a minimum. The knock-on effect from such help is that we can then focus spending the funds raised for us directly on our vital programme of support in the centres."

To mark our 225th anniversary, The Herald is teaming up with the Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres in a campaign that will provide lasting support for people across Scotland affected by cancer. We are inviting you to become a Herald Friend of Maggie's, either as an individual, a group or a company, to support the charity's work in 2008 and beyond.

Corporate Friends can support Maggie's in a range of ways, including donating help in-kind, taking it on as their Charity of the Year or holding business breakfast and networking events. A Maggie's team will work with you to tailor a programme that meets your goals, whether you want to build your profile as a socially responsible company, improve teamworking or boost staff morale. Everyone who signs up as a Personal or Active Friend of Maggie's is sent a stylish, eco-friendly carrier bag designed by the Scottish design studio Timorous Beasties.

Personal Friends give by direct debit to Maggie's. From as little as £5 a month, a Personal Friend can give someone affected by cancer the chance to attend one of Maggie's workshops once a month for a year. The workshops support the emotional and psychological wellbeing of people with cancer and their friends and family.

Active Friends are volunteers who form a group that represents Maggie's in their home area and help raise money in local communities through things such as fashion shows and coffee mornings. Groups of Active Friends have between five and 20 members.

To become a friend of Maggie's, call Ellen Martin on 0845 508 4681 or visit www.edirectdebit.com/maggiescentres. Your contribution will be celebrated on a roll of honour, and you will be kept up to date with events at Maggie's through a newsletter.