Western Daily Press (Saturday)
CIRCUS CHIEF FACES FIGHT
WHEN crowds see circus owner Nell Gifford ride into the ring on a magnificent stallion many are not aware of the secret battle going on behind her beaming smile.
Nell, who runs the eponymous Giffords Circus, has spent the last four years fighting breast cancer, but the disease has now spread to her bones and lymph nodes.
Her long, golden locks, topped with a crown of flowers in this year’s
retro-themed product Xanadu, is but a wig, hiding the cropped regrowth from round after round of chemotherapy.
This summer, midway through a run of shows, she was given the news that her cancer is now terminal.
She told the Evening Standard: “I have a poor outlook. I’ve been diagnosed with a year to live and things like that and I can hardly remember the feeling of being without cancer.
“But I’m having loads of treatment under an incredible oncologist, ducking and diving through the NHS and private system.”
Since being told she would need more IV chemotherapy last month, Nell has been dividing her time between hospital and her circus, and has made a series of heartfelt videos to inspire others facing their own battles with cancer.
In one, wearing her full stage costume, she explains: “It’s not the end of the world when you have chemotherapy, you can still enjoy yourself and still live your most creative life.”
In another, following a hospital admission, Nell still remains positive, explaining how it gives her time to read and to think.
Nell’s twins, Red and Cecil, who first appeared at the circus in an oldfashioned Silver Cross pram as babies, are now seven and she admits she has been open and honest with them about her cancer.
She said: “It’s a lot for the children to take on. But if they didn’t know, they wouldn’t be processing it, and they will have to some time. We are doing it together. It’s hard on their childhood, but they have their imag
I have a poor outlook. I’ve been diagnosed with a
year to live NELL GIFFORD
inary worlds they can go to. That is where childhood happens, in a way.”
And the circus, as ever, remains at the centre of Nell’s heart. It is her passion and now, more than ever, her ‘lifeline’.
She said: “It always has been. It’s a support system – I’m the happiest I am here on the show. It probably props me up more than I prop it up. In the most calamitous times it’s been what I’ve turned to and what’s contained me and where I’ve felt safe. It’s the community, being by the horses, knowing you have your tribe. It’s cool.”
This year’s show, Xanadu, is on tour away from Gloucestershire and has welcomed stars including Hugh Grant and Helena Bonham Carter to the famous Giffords big top.
Founded by Nell and her thenhusband Toti in 2000, Giffords has built a reputation for creating magical shows with beautiful details.
Last year, Nell spoke from the circus base in Stroud about why she was so passionate about her art and why the area felt like home.
She said: “It feels like home. There is such a well-functioning community, it is so joyful.
“Up here, we are near to town, which I think is important for people who arrive here to work at the farm from all around the world – they can walk down into town and get off site.
“It is just great. Someone said to me it feels like art, and design is in the DNA of the [Stroud] valleys and it is true. There are really good art classes and art shops – it feels like art is everywhere.”
The circus returns to Gloucestershire in September with shows in Cirencester from September 12 to 16 before the tour finale at Fennells Farm in Stroud from September 19 to 29. Tickets are still available from the circus website at www.giffords circus.com/.