An update from our AGM & OPEN DAY 23RD MARCH 2025.

2024 was a very busy year for the Branch Committee and for the MND community as a whole.

The impact of Rob Burrow and the Coronation Street story line cannot be underestimated. We heard time & time again that these were the main reasons people were fundraising for MND or putting money in the collection buckets- it touched a chord with them and people were moved to help; many of them not knowing anyone with MND or indeed having not heard of MND previously.

We also found with us printing the fundraising articles in our newsletters (and sharing on social media) has spurred people on to getting in touch and sharing their fundraising endeavours.

A quick recap of 2024:

Our Committee member numbers have now risen to 10 and we welcome Kursat Pekun, who will be taking over as Secretary and Simon James who has long been involved in fundraising for the Branch.

The committee held 11 Branch meetings.

A We also met up with the Cardiff & Vale and SE Wales Branches and hope to build stronger ties with them and collaborate on joint events.

We attended over 25 Fundraising events around the Branch area and gave 8 talks about our Branch and what we do.

The July Walk to D’Feet was held in Bridgend for the first time and was our busiest in walk to date, and we are hoping to build on this again this year.

We held 3 bucket collections & information days at stores, and have seen an increase in the request for collection tins to be situated in pubs, clubs and shops.

We’ve taken more telephone enquiries about the Branch and the assistance we give than previous years and shared more information, updates and surveys.

Our MND website and our Branch website has been constructed and will be continually updated on a regular basis. The flow of information to our social media accounts has also increased. We also now have a Volunteer Whatsapp group where people can dip in and out of helping at events when they are able to. Not everyone has the time or the inclination to be fully involved with the Branch so this is an easy stepping stone where you can choose what event you wish to attend or assist with. If you wish to be added to the group please contact let us know.

Our Association Visitors, Frances, Lis and Janice were also very busy, between them attending 19 clinics, over 50 home visits and having over 750 telephone calls or text conversations.

So what will 2025 look like for our Branch.

DVLA have nominated MNDA as their charity of the year and Richard Cook from the Swansea office (the other is in Birmingham) is organising some fundraising events for the coming months in Swansea area, so we will be supporting him with these.

I attended a fundraiser last month and we are holding a bucket collection at the Bridgend v Cardiff Rugby match on 5th April.

Corntown Craft Fayre on 7th June has nominated MND as their charity for the raffle and I will also have a stall there. Janice will be in Saundersfoot that day for a fundraising event.

Our Walk to D’Feet will be held on Sunday 22nd June at Newbridge Fields, Bridgend.

I’m sure as the months progress, the calendar will fill up.

We will begin work on the next newsletter in April. If anyone has anything they wish to include, please let us know.

Now that we have a new secretary in place to help ease the paperwork pressures we are hoping to re visit our GP surgery information drop, increase the flow of information in relation to Campaign information and increase our Branch membership sign up.

We are hoping to organise a few more branch run events and are looking to educate and encourage older school children to become involved.

Following from the success of the Swansea and Neyland Coffee mornings , Janice is looking to set one up in the Bridgend area.

We are looking to increase the locations that hold collection tins. So if you know of a shop, club, pub etc that would be willing to take a tin, please contact us.

Our thanks go to our guest speakers Caroline Bidder, NHS Network Leader for MND and Dr Owen Peters, Research Institute Cardiff for giving us their time and their informative presentations. Also thanks to Sarah Lowther, our Community Support Coordinator and Richard Shackelford, Fundraising for attending and their support.

Any feedback or questions please get in touch.

This is your Branch. If there is anything we are missing, or you have any suggestions please let us know. If you want to help in anyway get in touch.

Best wishes,

Jan Fisher