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.

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   


Fund Raising Events - For full details about local fund raising events please see below:

Stories included are:

                  • Ashton upon Mersey Golf Club
                  • Rob sails in the ARC transatlantic race
                  • Malbank High & Highfields Primary Schools, Nantwich
                  • The Shrewsbury Arms, Little Budworth
                  • Strawberry and Cream Evening
                  • The Firs School, Chester donates £5,000

Ashton upon Mersey Golf Club

 
Chair of the Branch, Julie Williams with The Lady Captain Shirley Dowson

Shirley Dowson, the 2009 Lady Captain of Ashton Upon Mersey Golf Club, decided to use her year to raise funds for MND in memory of her dear friend Monica Spence.

Monica, from Lymm was an active community player and was the original organiser of the Lymm Dickensian Day. Monica died 11 years ago as a result of MND. During the year a total of £2192.00 was raised from events such as afternoon tea with a talk from Shirley on 'The Mitford girls', the Christmas Farye, and a splendid fashion show. The fund was also bolstered with individual donations from members of the golf club.

Julie Williams, the Cheshire Branch MND Association Chair was recently invited to the golf club attend Shirley's last general meeting as Lady Captain and was presented with cheque for the amount raised to be used for the benefit of people living with MND in Cheshire.  


Rob Sails the Atlantic Ocean in the ARC Race 2009

 (extracts from www.justgiving.com/RobMShawTransatlantic and www.jasmina2009arc.blogspot.com/ )

Team members: Rob Shaw, Stuart Chambers, Andy Peck, Phil Taylor, Martin Lawrence, Steve Atkinson

 “Whilst I have sailed hundreds of miles, I have never sailed the Atlantic... but on Sunday 22nd November I set off across the Atlantic Ocean in the ARC race, from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia.

Subject to conditions we should arrive about 17 days later - a voyage of approximately 2,800 miles! On completion of this voyage, I will be the first person in the world with MND to sail the Atlantic.

The ARC race is a box I've always wanted to tick - but now it is even more important... I am doing this with 5 other good friends who I have sailed with for many years. I am doing this not just for me but to help raise the awareness for MND and also for other people in a similar position, to prove we can live 'sort of' normal lives, with a bit of planning. On the trip I will not be just a passenger - my job and expertise is doing all the navigation, plotting weather systems and making sure we sail the fastest route for the conditions, and not getting us lost!!”

An extract from Monday 7th December BLOGSPOT – “Making reasonable speed with parasail, skip and crew more relaxed. We are aware via radar and AIS where other yachts are but considering we are only about 40 miles from the finish there are no boats visible. Expect to finish around 1700 local time.

Midday a very intensive squall strikes with gusts up to 30 knots and heavy rain but with the jury rig our only option is to run with the weather. At 1215 a loud bang and the parasailor splits in half, half of it staying aloft held by the mast head and the other half hits the water.

We recover the sail and set sail again under white sails only with about 4 hours to Rodney Bay. We cross the line at 1707 local time, 42nd overall out of 209 – from 4 days seeing no boats they converge from all sides with 2 crossing just ahead and 4 astern. The elation is palpable. We’ve done it! We are on a high and drop the sails for the first time in 15 days and motor into the marina to receive a screaming supportive welcome.

As for me I have ticked the box I wanted to tick for years and, yes, it has been worth it. But far more than that, I have had the rare privilege of spending 15 days with 5 very good and dear friends and I suppose you shouldn’t need to sail 2700 miles to find that out.

Finally, a massive thank you from the whole crew to our blog followers – your support and comments made a big difference and helped us to know that in the big wilderness of the Atlantic ocean we were never alone. We also know that many wanted to and tried adding comments but were thwarted by the technology. Oh well – we knew you were there in spirit.”


Malbank High & Highfields Primary Schools, Nantwich

 

Chair of the Branch, Julie Williams, Alasdair Leach, and Headmaster of Highfields Primary School, Mr Dyson

Alasdair Leach, aged 10, from Highfields Primary School organised a fun run and raised £800 for the Cheshire branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Alasdair was also inspired by his brother, Charlie, a pupil at Malbank High School who had recently arranged a fund raising event of his own.

Charlie (almost 13) was chosen as Charity representative for Form 8D and put forward MND as their grandmother had suffered from MND. The form did a fun run and raised approx £273. The assembly held on Tuesday 3rd November, which was attended by Hazel Francis, had been organised by Form 8D who had researched MND and what their money will be used for and made a presentation to the rest of their year to raise awareness of MND.

Alasdair’s grandmother died of the disease in 2007 which motivated him to do something worthwhile to help.

Alasdair asked his head teacher, Mr Dyson, if he was allowed to organise a fundraising activity in school and was given the necessary permission. Alasdair then sent sponsor forms home to parents and encouraged the whole school to take part. The fun run took place on Friday 23rd October.

Chair of the Cheshire branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, Julie Williams, attended a school assembly and collected a cheque for £800. “The Association is very grateful indeed to Alasdair & Charlie and all those who took part in the fun run and raised money for this extremely good cause,” she said.  


The Shrewsbury Arms, Little Budworth

 Julie Williams, the Branch Chair was invited to go to The Shrewsbury Arms on 14th October to receive a cheque for £1,200 which had been raised for MND. They hold a quiz night every Wednesday from which half the entry fee is donated to charity. This year they choose MND in memory of Mike Carney and Jimmy Walker who sadly both died of the disease.

The Firs School, Chester donates £5,000

 

Parents at The Firs School in Newton Lane, Chester raised £10,000 for two charities of their choice at a ball held at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel (formally known as Hoole Hall Hotel)

Pictured here from left to right: Geoff Faulkner, Mrs Longman (proprietor of The Firs), Julie Williams (MND Association), Cath Jeffries (Wirral and Chester Renal Group), Becky Patton and Rev Longman (proprietor). Members of the parents’ committee, Becky Patton and Geoff Faulkner, handed cheques for £5,000 each to Julie Williams of the Cheshire Branch of the MND Association and to Cath Jeffries of the Wirral and Chester Renal Group.

The ball, which was held on May 16th raised funds via a raffle and an auction. Generous parents donated prizes for the auction including five tickets for a Liverpool football match, children’s bicycles, a holiday on the isle of Anglesey, a personal chef to prepare dinner for 12 guests of your choice as well as tickets for a Madonna concert.

Julie Williams said: “We are delighted and very pleased to accept this cheque from the parents of the Firs School pupils. It is very much appreciated and will be used as the parents requested; for further research into this terrible disease.”