Branch Fund Raising

Your support is vital to ensure the MND Association can continue to be there to help people whose lives are affected by Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Your gift can help provide the essential services people with MND rely on every day, or even fund research projects to bring hope for a future without MND. You can make a difference, thank you for helping today. If you wish to make a donation, however small please make your cheque, voucher or postal order donations payable to MND Association- Cheshire Branch, and contact a member of the Committe identified on the Contacts page.      Fund Raising Events - For a selection of local fund raising events please see below:  Stories included are: Great North Run My Iron Man 70.3 Experience   Ladies Lunch Arley Hall Garden Festival Strawberry Evening Antrobus Carol Singers  Gift Aid It Using Gift Aid means that for every £1 you give, we get an extra 25p from the HM Revenue & Customs, making your donation go even further. This means that each £100 can be turned into £128, just so long as the following criteria are met: The Donor must pay UK Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax equal to the amount of tax we reclaim on your donation. You must ensure that all FULL names, house number/name and postcodes are written CLEARLY. On sponsorship forms, the 'Gift Aid Declaration' box is 'ticked' accordingly. The sponsorship money submitted to us MUST correspond EXACTLY with the amount shown as 'collected' on the sponsorship forms. If it does not, we will be unable to claim any of the Gift Aid. Gift Aid Exclusions Please note that if the MND Association has paid for your participation in an event, i.e. The London Marathon (Golden Bond) or our 'Challenge Events', then the following people's donation cannot be Gift Aided: Family members (wife, husband, grandson, uncle etc) Wife or husband of a family member A company under the control of the participant or under the control of a family member.

After providing for family and friends, leaving a legacy to the MND Association in your will is a tremendous and thoughtful way of supporting our work and is exempt from inheritance tax

HAVE YOU HEARD THE ONE ABOUT LEGACIES? In May and June, pilots were undertaken in giving a short talk at branch and group meetings to help raise awareness of just how vital legacies (gifts left to us in supporters’ wills) are to our work; how easy it is to leave a legacy, and the important role that branches and groups can play in spreading the word. These talks, at South London, Manchester, Cardiff and Exeter also promoted the availability of a new MND Association Legacy Information pack (a sample was sent to each branch secretary in the June branch mailing). The talks now form part of the regional fundraisers’ function and they welcome invitations to deliver legacy talks at branch or group committee meetings We depend almost entirely upon voluntary donations, and legacies have long been a vital element of that income. Their importance cannot be over emphasised. In recent years they have regularly accounted for over a third of the Association’s annual income. Quite simply - legacies are absolutely vital in helping meet the costs of our world class research programme and extensive care services. But as we know, the demand for our services is growing all the time. Add to this the current economic climate, and there is concern among charities that the value of legacies may diminish and this could have serious repercussions. The MND Association is fortunate in having very robust finances and other strong income streams, but with just 1 in 7 people making a will also including a gift to charity, we need to continue to ask our supporters to keep us in mind when considering legacies. However, we always recognize that a valid will is first and foremost an important way to secure the future of family and friends and to make known personal wishes to those left behind. Only after providing for family and friends, do we ask people to consider including a legacy to the MND Association to help continue our work. It’s simple to leave a legacy. It can be easily incorporated into a new or existing will and there can be any number of legacies in a will. There are different types of legacy with very technical sounding names but they are readily explainable. An explanation can be found on the Association’s website and in the new Legacy Information pack along with other useful and practical information. An important consideration with any estate is taxation. Happily, any legacy left to a charity, like the MND Association, is exempt from inheritance tax. Again the information pack explains this more fully. Legacies offer our supporters an important way of continuing to support the Association’s work after they have ‘departed the scene’ and, if wished, they can be recorded in a personal Tribute Fund - a permanent record of practical remembrance. If you would like to know more or to request a Legacy Information pack, please email Stephen May at stephen.may@mndassociation.org  or call him on 01604 611865 You can also visit the legacy pages of the Association’s website at www.mndassociation.org/legacies

Great North Run

Article by Amy Phillipson

In April this year I thought it would be a good idea to sign up to the Great North Run – a half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields - in a bid to get fit and raise money for the MNDa in the process. Coming from a girl whose main form of exercise was walking from the sofa to the fridge was sure to be quite a challenge! I was lucky enough to secure a ‘golden bond place’ through the association, running for the Cheshire branch specifically. On the 1st May 2011 my 20 week training program began. I was full of excitement, enthusiasm and energy and headed out for my first training session. Unfortunately it only lasted 11 minutes before I genuinely thought I was going to pass out. I was even more unfit than I first thought! I was out of breath, sweating and my face was so red it was positively glowing. I hadn’t even made it a mile without giving up - I was crushed and had no idea how I was ever going to complete the challenge! I didn’t give up though (despite wanting to on so many occasions), and stuck to my training program as closely as I could. I ran four times a week and swam once, increasing my distance and speed gradually. My fitness did start to improve and I was soon running for 30 minutes at a time AND enjoying it! Unfortunately it wasn’t all plain sailing though - I injured my ankle during a run which resulted in six weeks out of training. This made a big dent in not only my newly acquired fitness but my confidence in completing the race at all. When I finally got back into training I took it slowly but my fitness soon began to improve and I was able to achieve 10 – 12 miles each Sunday with some shorter runs in the week (I never would have thought I’d be referring to a 6 mile run as a short run!). Two weeks before the race I injured my foot (the opposite one to the original injured ankle) so I rested until the day of the race to make sure I’d be able to compete – I was determined all my hard work would not be for nothing! The weekend of the race arrived and myself and my family (including my sister’s boyfriend, Nick Askey, who also ran for the Cheshire branch of the MNDa) travelled to Newcastle full of excitement and on my part, nerves! I was one of 54,000 runners on the day and the atmosphere was incredible. Before I knew it we were off – a mass of people running in unison through the streets, cheered on by spectators at the side of the road, on foot bridges and from nearby house windows and it didn’t stop there. The last few miles of the race is through residential areas and in true community spirit local residents had set up tables outside their houses with a variety of goodies to keep us going – water, juice, sliced fresh orange, home made sausage rolls and jelly babies to name just a few! Some had even brought their hosepipes out in an attempt to cool us down as we ran (or in my case, staggered) past. The sun had come out during the race and the temperature had soared - lovely for the spectators but I really struggled and had to really slow my pace down. There was one moment at about mile 10 where a lady in a wheelchair handed me a much needed bottle of water and whilst cheering me on told me if she could run the last few miles for me, she would. This was all the encouragement I needed to remind myself how lucky I was to even be attempting such an event and allowed me to pull together the last bits of energy I had left in me and cross the finish line in a time of 2 hours and 42 minutes. A slow time but when compared to my 11 minute effort some months before, a time I’m proud of!

My Iron Man 70.3 Experience

Daniel Knox completed the Ironman 70.3 which he did way back in June, in doing so he made over £1,800 in sponsorship of which 70% was donated to MNDA & 30% to NE Wales Search & Rescue. Read his story below: I saw the 2010 coverage of the Ironman 70.3 on TV one Saturday morning whilst eating my breakfast waiting for my lift to rowing. Wanting a change from rowing after doing it for the best part of 10 years this gave me the push to enter the event. And that was it I was signed up for the UK Ironman 70.3 in 2011. My training up to Christmas 2010 was moderate, but I was steadily increasing it as the time passed by knowing that I would be racing continuously for the best part of 7 hours on race day. As soon as January 2011 came I really got in to my training and was working to a training plan. My training consisted of a lot of swimming throughout the winter with some cold mornings on the bike and the odd long run thrown in with my Dad who was training for the London Marathon. Within a month to the event I started to get really quite nervous and the fact that I had raised a lot of money (in my eyes) put the pressure on me even more to succeed due to the fact that so many people knew I was doing it and so many people had sponsored me. My girlfriend (aka my number one supporter) and I travelled down to Devon on the Saturday morning to our cottage that we had rented out for the week after the Ironman. We went straight to the Ironman site where I was required to attend a briefing for the race. That evening I mainly spent my time eating, drinking water and sorting out my kit and bike for the race. On race day I rose at 4am to shower and eat some breakfast which mainly consisted of carbohydrates! I was at the Ironman site at 6am where at 6.30am they started walking us down to the lakes edge to start the swim. I said my goodbyes to my girlfriend Donna and then plunged in to the cold water ready to tread water for a good 30 minutes (the amount of time it took the 1600 entrants to get in position by the start line). The 7am starting gun took me by surprise but the hundreds of people around me that started kicking and waving their arms didn’t! So we were off and the swim part had begun. 1.2 miles of swimming in a lake, a mass start! The whole way I was jostling with people to find some clear water. I was glad to reach the shore once we had completed the 1 lap of the lake which took me 40minutes, but soon after followed a 400m run (or walk) to the transition area where we doffed our wetsuits and donned our cycling clothing ready to take on some food and water and ride the 56 miles of the very hilly bike course. Luckily the weather was amazing considering the day before was blowing a gail and raining cats and dogs! By this time it was only 8am ish and the sun was low. Due to my pretty good swim I was up at the front with the majority of people and feeling good. I had my breakfast which consisted of some sort of energy bar and rode the 2 laps of the bike course as fast as I could. I started to suffer the last quarter of the ride and some of the people who I had originally over took started to creep up on me. I was also struggling to digest some of the food I had been consuming on the bike which I think was due to the riding position which made me dread the run that was slowly approaching. But I completed the cycle in approximately 3 hours and 38 minutes which I was really happy with and faster than I thought I could do. I was now in transition 2 which basically required me to put my bike on the rack and swap my clip in cycling shoes for my running shoes quickly after scoffing and banana and a mars bar. Luckily the energy bars and gels decided they could be digested now and my stomach cramps went. The first part of any run from a cycle is difficult due to all the lactic acid in your muscles and this time it was no different. The first part of the run was around some of the spectators which was good to see and eventually I saw Donna shouting and waving at me. I tried to look cool before slowing down around the corner. I really struggled to run up the hills, and like the bike course the run course was also very hilly! The run involved 13.1 miles of a 3 lap course. Every lap you ran past the turning which led you to the finisher’s line. During the run I took a good few energy gels and bars but this time I struggled to notice a difference. Normally I get a good kick and nickname them rocket fuel, but it looked like my body was not responding as I didn’t notice the normal kick! Either way after almost 2 hours I could see the finish line and I was almost home. I knew my girlfriend would be waiting at the finish line and I couldn’t wait to see her and say thank you for all her support. I ran the last 100 metres with some random nice guy who got chatting to me and then the actual finish line was there. I took the turning which I had wanted to take for 3 laps which took me down the red carpeted finish to become a half Ironman! There was a commentator who was reading out names and numbers of all the athletes and it was great to hear my name as I crossed. I had had a target of 7 hours and so to complete it in 6hours 52 minutes was a great accomplishment for me and I felt really proud that I had raised so much money for my mum’s charity and more than I had ever thought I could. I had the mandatory photo once my medal had been put around my neck before my massive hug with Donna which I had been looking forward to so much! An amazing experience which I would absolutely love to do again one day!

Ladies Lunch

When Terry Shatliffe passed away in October 2010, very soon after diagnosis, his family wanted to raise funds for research in Motor Neurone Disease.  His daughter and her husband, Lynn and Dave Forshaw opened Bowden’s Bistro on Bridgewater Street in Lymm a few months ago and hosted a Ladies Lunch on July 29. Hayley Shatliff-Smith, granddaughter, and Ann de Looze, a family friend arranged the lunch with 45 ladies enjoying a very pleasant afternoon. BarbaraTew from the Manchester Branch and myself attended on behalf of the Motor Neurone Research Association.  In total over £500 was raised including a raffle and this money will go to National Office to help towards the cost of research.

Arley Hall Garden Festival

The Arley Garden Festival is now in its 17th year and is the flagship event in the Arley Calendar and was held on 25th and 26th June. There were 100’s of fantastic flower and plant nurseries from all over the country. The floral Marquee was in full bloom with a number of award winning displays on show and available to buy. Lord and Lady Ashbrook once again invited the Branch to set up a stall to promote the Association. The stall was manned by members and friends of the Branch. Although we were primarily there to raise awareness, we collected over £100.00 from donations and the sale of raffle tickets for a bird house which was provided by Margaret and Danny Boyd.  Those who manned the stall on the Sunday did enjoy better weather than those who were there on the Saturday. For next year’s event we will be sourcing better tent pegs to hold down the gazebo as on the Saturday the wind uprooted the gazebo and blew it away. Fortunately no one was hurt. We would like to thank everyone who helped, and hope that the incident on the Saturday will not deter anyone volunteering at next year’s festival if we are invited back!! Festival-goers were also be able to sample the Pimms & Champagne bar, enjoy a barbeque, and indulge with an ice-cream while taking in the sounds of a jazz band.

Strawberry Evening

This year’s very successful Strawberry Evening, at which over 100 friends and members of the Branch attended, was held at a new venue at Nantwich Football Club, and also took on a new format and raised a staggering £950. As well as the usual bowls of strawberries and cream, and scones, cream and strawberries Hazel provided sandwiches, sausage rolls and a choice of cold sweets. Those who attended were entertained by ‘line dancing’ hosted by Adrian Churm who provided the music. There were also various stalls selling items such as plants, jewellery, various sorts of cards, books and knitware.  A cake which was provided by Amy’s mum Andrea was raffled by ‘Guess the Weight’ and the usual well stocked raffle was held which helped to bolster the amount raised on the night. Our thanks must go to all those who helped on the night and to all who attended making it a very enjoyable evening. The monies raised will go to helping those living with MND in Cheshire.

Antrobus Carol Singers

The carol singers have a long way to travel as they try to visit every home in the parish. Although Antrobus has a reasonably small population of around 850 it has 33 roads and lanes that extend for some 36 miles criss-crossing an area of 4,145 acres of land. Antrobus is well known for its strong community spirit and for raising funds not only for village organisations but for other charities. One of the highlights of the year is the visits made by the Carol Singers organised by Dave and Kath Hankey. A notice appeared in the December Antrobus Village News saying "we will meet as usual by the telephone box in the School Lane car park at 6.45p.m. Everyone is welcome to join in and help us take the true message of Christmas to people's homes." So on 6 nights before Christmas and finishing on Christmas Eve carollers braved the snow and ice and cheered fellow villagers. A record amount of £2800 was collected. £400 has been given to Antrobus Methodist Church and to St. Mark's Church and £2,000 to MNDA Cheshire. The Branch thanks everyone involved for your generosity. It is donations like these that enable us to continue to support people living with MND in the Cheshire area