Stories included below are: 

• Family Secret Revealed
• Narrow Boat Trip
• The Cheshire Building Society
• Reception at Arley Hall

Family Secret Revealed

Narrow Boat Trip

On a fresh, sunny Wednesday morning at 10.00 am 22 members of the Branch met at the Cheshire Cat at Christleton to travel on 2 narrowboats named “The Pot of Gold”, and “Michael Hayes” to travel through 5 locks to Cow Lane Bridge in the centre of Chester, and back again. The narrowboats are owned and operated by Wirral Community Narrowboat Trust. Each boat has a wheelchair ramp and lift, a flush toilet, central heating, full cooking facilities incl. refrigerator, kitchen utensils, tea towels, plates, cutlery and crockery. We set off at approximately 10.45am and tea and biscuits were served. As the narrowboats leisurely made their way to Chester, the weather improved. We reached Cow Lane Bridge at about 1.00pm and everyone disembarked and went to the “Frog and Nightingale” (see pictures). On the way back a picnic lunch was served. We arrived back at the Cheshire Cat about 4.15pm after a very relaxing day on the canal. It would be remiss if we didn’t mention, and thank, the volunteers who operate and crew the narrowboats. They went out of their way to ensure that we had a very enjoyable day. The canal trip will be certainly featured again, as everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day.

The Cheshire Building Society

Branches of the Cheshire Building Society across the area are hoping to raise in excess of £1,000 each for MND and have various activities planned such as raffles, coffee mornings, sponsored karaoke, clothes swaps, bag packing events, charity dinners, cake sales, a fancy dress pub crawl and even, in the case of one branch, a sponsored leg shave!

Nationwide Building Society now owns the Cheshire, Derbyshire and Dunfermline Building Societies and in addition to the local branch fundraising activities the Area Managers from the three societies have agreed to cycle from Derbyshire to Dunfermline via Cheshire over a 6 day period next April.

Angela Davies, Manager of the Cheshire Building Society in Northwich commented, “Every penny raised in Cheshire will go to support families affected by MND in the Cheshire area. We know what a difference this money will make in improving the lives of sufferers and I would like to thank all members of staff and customers who are helping us reach our target.”

Events have got off to a flying start in Cheshire as the Cheshire Building Society in Culcheth have raised £200 following a raffle on 3 November, the Northwich branch has raised £98 so far and Stockton Heath £110.

The MND Association is delighted to have been chosen as the Cheshire Building Society. Margaret Bailey, organizer of the MND Cheshire Branch support group meetings, expressed her sincere thanks on behalf of the committee.

The money raised by Angela’s colleagues in the Cheshire Building Society is vitally important to us in the fight against this cruel disease and to support the families who have to cope with so much.

For more information on events planned at branches of the Cheshire Building Society please check in your local branch. Branches participating in the area are: Accrington, Chorley, Crewe, Culcheth, Leigh, Lymm, Middlewich, Nantwich, Northwich, Stockton Heath, Warrington, Wigan, and Winsford.

Reception Hosted by Viscount Ashbrook at Arley Hall

Pictured here from left to right are Amy Phillipson, Association Visitor and Committee Member of the Cheshire Branch, Brian Dickie, Director of Research Development at the MND Association, Viscount Ashbrook, and The Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, David Briggs   The Hammond Singers

The reception which was held on 2nd September was suggested and discussed with Viscount Ashbrook approximately 12 months in advance of the event being held. Viscount Ashbrook has regulary invited the Branch to set up a stall at The Arley Garden Festival which is now in its 16th year and has become the flagship event in the Arley Calendar. He has also invited those of us who are living with MND for a tour of the gardens with himself and Lady Ashbrook. Arley Hall has been the ancestral home of the Warburton Family since 1470, and the gardens have been created over the last 250 years by successive generations of the same family. At the Reception at which The Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, David Briggs together with Dr Brian Dickie, Director of Research Development at the MND Association, and Amy Phillipson, Association Visitor and Committee Member of the Cheshire Branch gave talks on the research taking place and how this terrible disease affects people, and how the Branch supports people living with MND. Prior to the event 107 donations were received by Viscount Ashbrook, from personal invitations he had sent out. On the night where a further 25 donations were received, but more importantly the event was attended by people who could influence policies both at national and local level.  Over 100 people attended the reception. As well as the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire it attracted MP’s, The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of the City of Chester, Chairman and Chairman's Lady, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Town Council Mayors and a liberal sprinkling of Councillors. On the night discussions were held with as many of the people as possible to spread the word, for example one Councillor in Cheshire East was formulating a policy on social care and was very interested in the National Strategy for MND. Since the Reception several requests have been made for further information, and indeed the Lord Mayor of Chester has now included it in his blog at http://lordmayorchester.blogspot.com To date the donations from the event have raised over £7,400, but just as importantly awareness has been raised throughout Cheshire and what the Cheshire Branch does to help and assist people living MND. As well as being able to financially contribute to their needs one important factor is to be able to bring together people living MND at the Branch’s Support Group Meetings which are held monthly. In arranging events like this we have to think about geographical spread for the area we cover i.e. Wallasey to Audlem, Chester to Wilmslow, and consequently we hold the meetings at 3 separate venues across the County and on average we have about 20 people attending. This was a very special evening in the setting of Arley Hall and the musical quartet and singers from The Hammond School in Chester were excellent but for those who attended the key moments were in meeting sufferers, their families and those who have lost family members to the disease.