Registered Charity No. 294354
Local Branch Patron :
Dr. Tom Warner
 



















 MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE ASSOCIATION
-
NORTH AND EAST HERTFORDSHIRE BRANCH

RECENT EVENTS PAGE



January Lunch
Instead of our usual January evening meeting, it was agreed to arrange a lunch at the North Herts College in Hitchin. Twenty four Members of our Branch met for the lunch, which was cooked and served by the Catering students at the College. As you can see from the photos, everyone had a lovely time and it gave an ideal opportunity for members to catch up with others after the Christmas break. Thanks to Gloria for organising such a successful lunch.
 

November Meeting 2010
At the November monthly meeting we held our annual Christmas Social. We were pleased to welcome nearly forty Branch members and their families to the evening. We were pleased to be entertained by the Stotfold Christian Choir, who sang a selection of Christmas songs and hymns. Refreshments were provided by the Branch members and we also had a special Raffle in aid of Branch funds. The evening was a great success and it was good to meet so many of our members again - both those fairly new to the Branch and also long-standing members too.

At the evening, we were also able to thank our retiring Patron, Dr Dorothy Anderson, who stood down from the position after seven years as Branch Patron. We would all like to thank Dorothy for her hard work and support over the years.

Gloria's Garden Party

Gloria, our Chairperson of the Branch, kindly opened her garden once again for Afternoon Tea on 8th August. The weather was lovely and all the visitors enjoyed delicious cakes and savouries served with tea in the garden. A raffle was held and various quizzes were circulated to entertain the Guests. Overall, Gloria raised a magnificent sum of £357. Thank you to Gloria and her team for making it such an enjoyable afternoon.

June Branch meeting at
Van Hage's Nursery

Our June monthly meeting was held at Van Hage's Nursery near Ware, where 17 people from the Branch and two members of staff from the MND Association enjoyed a Cream Tea together. We were pleased to welcome Liz Pybus, who is our new Regional Care and Development Adviser and Tracey MaGuire, Volunteer Development Co-ordinator. We then were able to enjoy looking at all the plants and gardening equipment within the Nursery and visit the Nursery's animal enclosure, where we were able to see various farm animals and more exotic breeds too.

Visit to Houses of Parliament

In June, two of the Branch members - Marilyn Dodson and David Simms attended a reception at the Houses of Parliament, where members of the MND Association met various MP's and were able to speak with the MP's directly in order to raise the profile of the Association. The reception was held following the delivery of a petition to Downing Street, which was calling for a National Strategy for MND. Over 18,000 signatures have been received.

Pictured in the photograph is Marilyn on the left and David on the right.

Visit to St James's Palace

In May 2010, four members of the Branch were invited to attend a reception at St James Palace to mark the 30th Anniversary of the MND Association. The reception was hosted by our Royal Patron, the Princess Royal, who spoke to over 100 Volunteers during the event. Guests included some of the founding members of the Association. Professor Colin Blakemore, our President made a speech, which was then followed by the Princess Royal, who talked about the importance of Volunteers in the MND Association. Kirstine Knox, Chief Executive of the MND Association was also present.

The four members of the Branch who attended the Reception were:
Marilyn Dodson, Annette Ward, Tony Plummer and Chris Carter (all pictured in the photograph). Everyone had a fantastic day and enjoyed the priviledge of attending St James Palace and meeting the Princess Royal. It is a day that we will always remember.

March Branch Meeting

At our March meeting, we were pleased to present Gloria, our Chairman, with a bouquet of flowers to celebrate her special birthday. In the picture is Marilyn Dodson, our Branch Secretary (L), presenting the flowers to Gloria (R).

JayBee Communication Device
At the February monthly meeting our speaker was Ian Schofield, who has developed the JayBee Communication Device. This is a new type of augmentative communication system using a laptop computer. The system was initially designed for MND patients and Ian has worked hard to develop the system over the last few years. The system is able to learn how the User communicates and assists them in producing extremely fast access to the most relevant words and phrases. The more the system is used, the more the system adapts. Everyone appeared very impressed with the system and had very positive comments to make. It is hoped that the MND Association will be interested the potential of the system and its use with MND clients.


If you would like to know more about the device click here : www.jaybee.org.uk

Jackman's Community Centre Sponsored Walk
Recently, The Branch received a cheque for in excess of £700, which was raised by people from who took part in a Sponsored Walk,which was organised by the Jackman's Community Centre, in Letchworth. Thanks to all those who took part and the money raised will go towards helping local people suffering from Motor Neurone Disease.


November Monthly Branch Meeting 2009

Our November meeting was our special Christmas Social, an enjoyable evening with plenty of food and soft drinks. This year we had a Carribean Theme instead of our usual Christmas theme, as our musical entertainment was provided by the 'Panacea' Steel Orchestra, who put on a marvellous arrangement of songs (see photos below). We drank Carribean Fruit Punch and ate Tropical Muffins, made by Carol and Annette. We had a large turn out, as you can see from the photograph below and it was lovely to see so many people there. We also had a big raffle too. The Branch was also presented with a certificate of achievement from the MND Association, as one of our members, Alan, had nominated our Branch for an 'OSCARR Award' earlier in the year. We were pleased to be presented with the award by Roger Widdicombe, from National Office (see photos below) and it was a lovely surprise to round off the year. Thanks to everyone that came along and we hope to see you all again in 2010 at our Monthly meetings.
 

Dogs for the Disabled - October Meeting 
Our October speaker gave an informative and entertaining talk on 'Dogs for the Disabled' with 'Nudge', a beautiful black labrador demonstrating a variety of skills, such as pulling off socks and picking up various articles dropped on the floor. It was good to hear how these dogs not only help someone with disabilities, to lead a more independent life, but also improve the quality of life for both ther person with a disability and their carer(s). Dogs for the Disabled are based in Banbury and can provide dogs to both adults and children following assessment and specialised training.

'Rock at the Castle' - Hertford July 2009
Thank You to Everyone who Helped on the Day! On 2nd August, Hertford Town Castle organised 'Rock at the Castle'. This is a yearly event and this year, our Branch was chosen as the designated Charity. This was a fantastic opportunity, which could not be missed. Over 7000 people attended the event. We were allowed to collect at the four main entrances leading to the Concert and we collected continuously from 12pm to 7pm. Overall, we had nearly 40 collectors and helpers came along to help the Branch and overall we raised £4,757 for our Branch funds! We were thrilled by the generosity of people, and a final figure has yet to be confirmed but it looks like it will be a record breaking sum in the five years that Rock at the Castle has been running. Some of the money which was collected for the Bands that were playing was then donated by the Bands to our Charity, which was very generous. We would like to thank all our volunteers who came along and helped us to collect the money and help behind the scenes. A special thank you to Kev Saunders, who was responsible for organising all the bands and music on the day and for nominating us as the chosen Charity. Also a big thank you to Marilyn Dodson. Our Secretary for organising the day and co-ordinating everything so that the day went so smoothly. Also to Greta Saunders and all her family and friends for their help on the day and finally, to Denis, our Treasurer who was busily counting all the proceeds on the day behind the scenes. Here are some photos of the day.






 
 
Letchworth Lions Fun Day
There was good support for the Letchworth and Baldock Lions Fun Day on Saturday 25th July 2009, held in Broadway Gardens, Letchworth. The stall was organised by Chris Carter, our Branch Contact. Many thanks to Annette, Jon, Derek, Elizabeth, Marilyn, Anne, David, Gloria, Pat, and Tony who helped man the stall on the day. The weather was kind, a warm sunny day with a light breeze and we were able to enjoy our new Gazebo, recently purchased for our Branch activities. The Branch stall was one of 20 or so, positioned near the Fun Fair. Our stall was mainly there to raise awareness, although we did raise £53.00, with a small raffle, a few M.N.D items and knitted dolls and blankets. Many thanks to Meg who kindly donated the knitted items, which were as popular as ever. The Lions have donated all the proceeds from the day to the Branch. We would like to thank Geoff and all the Lions members for all their hard work and generosity.

 
 
Cream Teas at Van Hages Garden Centre

Instead of our usual evening Monthly Branch Meeting, the Committee decided to organise an afternoon visit to Van Hage's Garden Centre in Great Amwell, near Ware. We organised for a Cream Tea to be served at 3pm and the Garden Centre, arranged for this to be set in an adjoining room to the usual restaurant there. Altogether, 19 Branch Members came along and we all spent an enjoyable time socialising with one another and getting to know some new faces. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Cream Tea and also enjoyed looking round the Garden Centre, which also had a lovely farm animal section, where a variety of sheep, ducks, hens, rabbits, pigs and other exotic animals could be seen. Luckily the weather was glorious and it was lovely to meet some new people who cannot always attend our evening meetings. It is hoped to organise a similar event again in the Autumn.
 
 
Charity 6 a side football competition - May 2009
 

A 6 a side Charity Football Match was organised by Del Deanus, the Manager at Welwyn Garden City Football Club in May 2009. Fifteen football teams took part and the event involved teams from a wide range of localities and organisations. The tournament was eventually won by the Edgware Treble Winners who beat Tokyngton Manor in the final, on penalties. A raffle was also organised and overall nearly £2,000 was raised on the day. We would like to say a special thank-you to Del Deanus, his wife and their friends for all their hard work in making this event such a success and raising so much money for our Branch. One of the Team's was called 'MND' and all the members wore our T-Shirts with our logo on them. See the photo above.



 

Tractor Rally at Ashwell - 6th Sept

The Tractor Rally was organised by the Ashwell Village Antique Tractor Club.  John Stevenson and Colin Chambers organised the Rally and proceeds raised were donated to the MND Association.  The day included several events, including a tractor rally, Raffle, and several bands played in the grounds of the Rose and Crown Pub in Ashwell.       

It all started in the morning with tractor owners having a run in the local area, finishing in the Rose & Crown car park. The tractors were then available to view.  Our Branch organised a stall, which displayed information and our Display Boards. We also organised a raffle, with over 25 prizes.  There was a hog roast and live music from three bands starting at 4pm until 11pm.  Drinks and food were available at the Rose & Crown, and the pub promised  a donation of 10p for every drink sold. John Stevenson, who is himself an international shooter, has arranged for expert friends to raise funds by sponsorship in a shooting competition.   Thanks to Eric Eatwell for co-ordinating our Branch Raffle and Display.  Special thanks to Sabina, Manager of the Rose and Crown too for all her help on the day.

 

River Stort narrow boat trip - 17th August

 

The Branch organised a very successful canal boat trip in August for Branch members and their families.  We hired 2 canal boats and travelled down the river Stort, near Harlow.  The weather was fine and everyone enjoyed a Cream Tea, with freshly baked scones, jam and cream, plus home-made cake and strawberries and cream.  The canal boats were specially adapted and fully accessible for wheelchairs.  The trip lasted for nearly 3 hours and we had to negotiate a couple of locks along the way.  Grateful thanks to Marilyn Dodson, our Branch Secretary, for organising the day.

 

Branch Annual General Meeting

At the last monthly meeting, the Branch held its AGM.  Liz Garrood (Regional Care and Development Officer) gave a talk about her work and latest developments in Hertfordshire.  

 



Heads Together Black Tie Dinner event - MBDA, Stevenage


On the 11th October, a magnificent Charity Dinner was held by MBDA of Stevenage. The Dinner was attended by over 110 people and was in aid of four local Neurological Charities, who have joined together as 'Heads Together' in order to raise funds as a Group. The Charities are: Headway North Herts and Stevenage, Alzheimer's Society, Herts MS Therapy Centre and our branch of the MND Association. The evening started with a champagne reception and was followed by a sumptuous 3 course meal. A Charity Auction and prestigious raffle followed. After this, Gordon Banks, ex England Goalkeeper and member of the 1966 winning World Cup Team gave an after dinner speech, which was humorous and enlightening. At the end of the evening, a cheque was presented to the four Charities for £7,400. Our thanks go to Alan Fuller and Louise Parfrey from MBDA, who organised the whole event and to all the MBDA staff who helped on the night. It was a special evening and we were glad that several Branch members attended, representing the MND Association locally.

 
Annette Ward (2nd from right) representing the Branch at the
cheque presentation ceremony with Gordon Banks (2nd from left)

 
Fundraising Concert

Singing for Pleasure Choir from Welwyn.


On 29th September, we organised a Charity Fundraising Concert, with the Welwyn Garden City Choir 'Singing for Pleasure'. See poster below. The concert was held in the United Reformed Church in Stevenage. The Concert was well received and the audience enjoyed the wide repertoire of songs. The Concert was in aid of 'Heads Together', which is a joint venture between four local Charities - the Alzheimer's Society, Herts. MS Therapy Centre, Headway and our MND Branch. Proceeds from the Concert were split between the four Charities. Our grateful thanks to the 'Singing for Pleasure' Choir for a splendid performance and to the United Reformed Church for all their help and support.
 


Visit to the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre - London Colney


On the 9th September a small group visited the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre, London Colney and were met by a charming man named Reg, who flew Mosquito's in the war, who introduced the group to the history of the site. This was followed by a tour of the hangers that housed their collection of De Havilland aircraft. A ploughman's lunch was laid on for the group in the Museum clubroom, and they were then able to wander around at their leisure for as long as they liked. A highly enjoyable time was had by all. We would like to thank all the people at the Heritage Centre for entertaining everyone and for spending so much time answering all our questions. By the way - the museum is very keen to find volunteers who are interested in helping them restore their aircraft.




















Hopley's Charity Evening - 21st July




On Saturday the 21st of July, Hopley's Garden Centre in Much Hadham held a charity evening 'extravaganza' in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, where amongst others, 'Bjorn Again', the world famous Abba tribute band were be playing. Over a thousand people attended the event and despite the weather being very wet at times a great time was had by all. After several hours of musical entertainment, the evening concluded with a spectacular fireworks display.

Our Branch were kindly invited to be the named Charity for the event. We held a large tombola (see below) and a raffle. Both went extremely well and we made over £3,800 in proceeds on the night, which was fantastic. Following the event, we were then given a further cheque from Aubrey Barker of Hopley's Garden Centre, who hosted and organised the event. All together we raised £7,867.43p, which is a marvellous amount, way beyond what we could have hoped for.

We would like to say a big thank you to Mr Aubrey Barker and all the staff at Hopley's Garden Centre in Much Hadham, who gave us the opportunity for this fundraising event. Also, a big thank you to Marilyn Dodson for co-ordinating all our Branch volunteers and making sure that the tombola and raffle went off smoothly.





As part of the fundraising effort we held large tombola, a raffle, and sold glow in the dark 'glowstick' necklaces, bracelets and glasses. We would like to take the opportunity to thank Aubrey and all his tireless staff and helpers in raising such a magnificent sum of money.


Ware Festival - July 2007


On the 7th July, we had a stand at Priory Gardens in Ware on the day of the Ware Carnival, which is part of the Ware Festival Events. We have been chosen as one of the three special Charities who will benefit this year from the Ware Festival. Sarah, Stuart Milner's sister organised a 'Guess the Name of the Teddies' competition and people had to guess the correct name of both a boy and girl Teddy Bear (see picture below). Each child who took part was given a balloon with the MND logo on it to take home. In all, we raised just over £70 towards our Branch funds. A grateful thanks to Stuart Milner for donating the Teddies and to his sister and family for organising the competition and helping on the day. Pictured is Marilyn Dodson, our Secretary with the two stars of the show!




Following the event, the organisers of the Festival presented Marilyn Dodson and Annette Ward from the Branch with a cheque for £714




During the evening Stuart Milner, one of our members, presented the Branch with a cheque for £1,500, which was collected by the group - 'MND in Sport'. You can see, pictured below, is Stuart with his sister - Sarah (on the far right), with members of the Committee of The Branch.
 
 


Branch Outing on the River Stort - 20th August 2006


The trip - which was organised and led by Marilyn - took place on one of the specially adapted narrow boats of the Canal Boat Project on the River Stort. The crew navigated the boat through six locks along the river. Marilyn and Gill prepared the afternoon tea and cakes, which was enjoyed by all. It is hoped that The Branch will repeat the trip again next year.


Garden Party at Digswell - 9th July 2006


Gloria, one of our Committee members organised this event with her friend, Joyce. The event was entitled 'P.M. Tea on the Lawn' and was held in Digswell, near Welwyn Garden City.


Link to National
Office Web Site
www.mndassociation.org


Contact us
e-mail us.

Visit of the MND Association Chief Executive

We were delighted to welcome our new Chief Executive of the MND Association, Kirstine Knox to our October 2005 Branch Meeting. Kirstine came along to meet everyone and to find out more about our Branch. After a short talk, she then answered questions from the members on a wide range of topics. The photo below shows our Treasurer, Denis Cole (right) and our Chairman, Eric Eatwell (left) presenting a cheque to Kirstine for £6,000 raised from our Branch funds and given to the MND Association towards research into Motor Neurone Disease.



Welwyn Garden City Male Voice Choir Concert at St Albans Abbey

Welwyn Garden City Male Voice Choir held their 70th anniversary concert at St Albans Cathedral on the 15th Oct 2005, raising funds for Motor Neurone Disease in the process. Supporting them were the Luton Vauxhall Male Voice Choir and Serenata. The choir was formed in 1935 by a group of Welsh miners who had settled in Welwyn Garden City looking for employment. The only remaining member of the original choir was present in the audience, which made the evening special. Our Chairman of our Branch, Eric Eatwell, gave a short speech at the end of the concert, thanking the choirs for the superb concert and to everyone who had attended and helped to raise money for the MND Association (see photo below). We were also thrilled that our new Chief Executive of the MND Association, Kirstine was able to be present for the concert. A big thank you to Hugh Smith from the WGC Male Voice Choir for organising the concert and choosing us as their charity for the evening.



Stuart's Skydive



Stuart Milner (centre below) and two of his friends, Michael Roberts and Jon Lewis, undertook tandem skydives to raise funds for our Branch. On the 8th Sept 2005, after a delay the previous week because of bad weather, they finally fell out of a plane at 12,000ft, then free-fell for a mile (which took about 30 seconds) upon which they then deployed their parachutes and floated back to earth doing a few twists and turns on the way. Stuart reports that the jump was exilerating and that they had a really great time. All three fully funded the costs of their jumps in order to maximise the amount of money raised. The fearless trio ended up raising a fantastic £2600 for the Association. Thanks very much guys!!



Fords on Tour - Sept 2005 - Job Done - £7500 raised !!


















Click here  to view a summary of the trip


We can now report that I, (Jon Ward - webmaster of this site) and two friends, father and son team Marc and Lee Lawrence, are now back in the UK having successfully completed our drive across the USA in our 33 year old Mk1 Ford Escorts. We had a fantastic time on the trip, a summary of which can be viewed on our 'Fords on Tour' website. You can go to the website by clicking on the link above. The trip took us from Baltimore to Los Angeles, via New York, Niagara Falls, Detroit, Indianapolis, St Louis, Tulsa, Alburquerqe, Amarillo, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and San Francisco - a distance that turned out to be over 5600 miles. I can also report that we raised about £6500 for MND. During the trip we stayed for a couple of nights with Hugh Anderson and his family in Baltimore. Hugh is the son of our Branch patron, Dr Dorothy Anderson, who put us in contact with Hugh prior to the trip. During the drive we also joined up with the Greater Los Angeles Branch of the ALS Association (the US equivalent of the MND Association) for their 'Walk D'feet' - a sponsored walk that they were holding in Bakersfield, California. The organisers of the walk were so please to see us that they insisted that our cars were positioned on either side of the balloon arch that marked the starting line for the walk. During the opening ceremony we were introduced to the large crowd of about 500 walkers and we were then asked to address them to tell them about our trip. We were then given a number of mementos of the day (baseball cap, lapel badge and charity wrist band) for us to take home with us as a reminder of the day. After being interviewed by the local press, we then witnessed the ribbon cutting ceremony and the start of the walk. Before we left we were informed that the organizers of the walk were confident that they had raised at least $75,000 towards their cause - a magnificent sum.





Chesfield Downs Charity Golf Day

In June 2005, a Charity Golf Day was organised by Chris Leary, The Captain of the Ladies Golf Team at Chesfield Downs Golf Club. Chris chose The Motor Neurone Disease Association as her Charity and an amazing £2,316.21p was raised in total. Eric Eatwell, Chairman of the North and East Herts Branch of the MND Association visited the Golf Club to meet the Ladies Golf Team and to receive a cheque on behalf of the Branch. All proceeds will go towards helping local people with MND.



Crafty Crickets have a messy Splat!!!

'Crafty Crickets' is a pre-school art and craft group which takes place in Bengeo each Tuesday morning at the local Cricket Club. On Tuesday 21st June 2005, Laura Lawrance, together with her friend Clare Blackman, arranged a special fund raising morning in memory of Laura's Stepfather who died 8 years ago. During the morning, Laura and Clare decided to arrange a sponsored hand painting session, where the children had to 'splat' a sheet of paper as many times as possible in one minute. The 'splatfest' resulted in everyone getting extremely messy, but needless to say a great time was had by all . About 40 children attended over two sessions and the parents kindly sponsored their children, raising £294.80 for our funds. Many thanks to all who took part.



'Open Gardens at Much Hadham'

This event was held on 26th June 2005 in Much Hadham, a beautiful village in east Hertfordshire. Several gardens were open to the public and people were able to wander round and view the fantastic gardens on show. Each garden had its own special charm and we were lucky to have quite good weather all afternoon. Thanks to Marilyn for helping with the co-ordination of this event and many thanks to all those who opened their wonderful gardens for display.


London Marathon

Every year in April our Branch attends the London Marathon. We are based at a pub, which is on the route of the Marathon, where we carry out our fundraising. Volunteers from our Branch collect donations along the route. There is always a fantastic atmosphere amongst the competitors and public. We normally have a jazz band playing outside the pub and we have named runners, who are running on behalf of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.




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