MNDA Quiz Night April 1st

Terry Aston is Vice Chair, Cheshire Branch Motor Neurone Disease Association

Over £1300 is raised for the MNDA

I'd like to add a little to the Audlem Online news feature of April 6th (see here ).

On behalf of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) and myself I'd like to send a big thank you to all involved in this event -- Adriana and Ralph for making it happen, Yorkie Dave as superb quiz master and all the helpers who did a lot of unseen background work. In addition a big thank you to individuals and businesses (too many to name) who so kindly donated prizes and of course the people of Audlem for supporting the event and their kind contributions through ticket sales, raffle tickets, the bar and donations.

On Tuesday evening at the Bridge Inn Ralph presented me with the proceeds of the event -- a brilliant £1350.15, comprising the above and a special contribution from quiz regular and friend Jill Jones who separately raised £184 selling her own artwork in support of the event.

The MNDA is a charity and derives it's funding amongst other things through events like these. Without your kind help they would not be able to support those suffering from MND and their families, sponsor research nor campaign. The Cheshire Branch, of which I recently became vice chair, provides support to sufferers locally through Association Visitors, financial grants (for example for hoists and communication aids) and through social events. We also contribute to the national association's coffers where funding is distributed amongst other things for research into remedies.

Motor Neurone Disease

For those who don't know, Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a condition that affects the part of the nervous system that controls how muscles work. Motor Neurone cells in the brain and spinal column gradually cease to function so that messages stop reaching muscles. It can affect people differently, but typically people lose the ability to move their legs, their arms, talk, eat drink and ultimately breathe. Currently there is no cure and it's a terminal diagnosis with death typically coming between 3-5 years from onset, although there are outliers at each end of the range. About 1 in 300 people develop MND or, to put it another way, of the population of the UK today some 200,000 will develop MND in their lifetime. Whilst at present there is no cure there have recently been some promising developments with sufferers carrying the SOD1 gene showing a significant impact after administering the trial drug tofersen. Research is a particular passion of mine -- before my wife, Mary, died from this she committed to a host of clinical studies at Sheffield University and after her death even donated her brain and spinal column for research purposes, so it's my intention to continue with her legacy. Research will eventually lead to defeat of this disease.

It's events like the quiz night and the generosity of the people of Audlem that make this possible, so again thank you to all of you