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HDA news - publicity, events and fundraising AGM and Family Conference 5th to 7th October 2007February 2008Wow! What a weekend! Friday 5th October saw the start of the Family Conference weekend and the Park Inn Hotel in Telford was buzzing! We held three workshops on Friday afternoon; one to enable people to share their experiences of HD with one another and talk about the issues affecting them; the second workshop was for branch members to enable them to discuss branch issues and share ideas and best practice for attracting and retaining new members. The third workshop took place at 5.00pm to welcome new people to the weekend and to enable them to get to know one another. We played a game in order to remember as many names of the people in our group as possible, which I have to say, worked a treat!
Following Friday night’s dinner, everyone was entertained by Bill Crowder, Deputy Head of Care Services, who issued the quiz. Everyone was in good spirits and the competition between teams was fierce! Well done to the winners and congratulations to the team that won the booby prize! Saturday 6th October was the main event of the weekend and we achieved record numbers in attendance – over 260 people! The day began with the HDA business meeting. We proceeded on to Fred Kavalier’s presentation on living positively with HD. His presentation was tremendously well received.
Alison Metcalf and Gill Plumridge gave their talk on their research into explaining HD to children, followed by Hugh Marriot from the Hampshire Branch of the HDA, with his talk on ‘The Octopus Factor’, and the affect that HD has on families. After a hearty lunch, Professor Steve Dunnett from Cardiff University gave his update on cell therapies for HD, including current trials and future prospects. Terry McGrath from Dendron talked about patient and carers involvement, which was followed up by his workshop on Sunday morning. Back by popular demand, Steve Smith gave his ‘journey through song’, playing some of his songs from his latest album. His album is available for sale from the HDA Head Office on 0151 298 3298.
The presentations concluded with a moving and very personal journey by Pauline De Lury from New Zealand, whose family has been severely affected by HD. Many of our attendees could be seen dabbing their eyes at such a heartfelt account of Pauline’s feelings and experiences. All in all, the day went very smoothly and we have received some excellent and useful feedback on the evaluation forms.
The Grand Prize Draw marked the end of the conference. Unfortunately, none of the winners were in the room, but all have now received their prizes and we hope they enjoy them! We would like to congratulate the prize winners, as follows: 1st Prize – J Hart, Coventry; winning £1000, 2nd Prize – Mrs E Parsons, Kent; winning a week self-catering holiday in Scotland, 3rd Prize – Mrs Barker, Dorset; winning £250 cash, 4th Prize – Mr C Ware, Wiltshire; winning a handmade quilt made by Rosemary Styles of the Sussex branch. A special ‘Thank you’ goes out to Rosemary Styles of the Sussex Branch who kindly donated a beautiful quilt which she had made by hand. We cannot begin to imagine the number of hours/days/weeks that went into making the fabulous quilt. Thank you so much, Rosemary.
With the business of the day over, it was time to have a well earned rest before the dinner dance. What a fabulous evening it was! The room looked amazing with the beautifully decorated tables and equally stunning outfits of the guests. Becky had even managed to get the florist to supply us with Amaryllis floral arrangements, the HDA flower! The party poppers, rocket balloons and pea shooters seemed to be widely appreciated too! The general raffle which took place after dinner saw another flurry of excitement as the tickets were drawn. There was a vast selection of prizes donated this year, so thank you to all our donors. We hope everyone enjoyed their prizes and better luck next year to those who didn’t win this time. A great time was had by all that evening, with the majority of people getting up to enjoy a dance too. For several of the songs there was not enough room on the dance floor and dancers spilled over into the aisles! It was great to see so many people clearly enjoying the evening and having fun. The final song of the night was “You’ll never walk alone” and as we stood on the dance floor arm in arm, everyone was a part of the special HDA family. After an exhilarating, yet exhausting day, it was time for bed in preparation for Sunday. Sunday provided an abundance of choices for all our guests; to attend two out of six possible workshops, or alternatively a coach trip to Ironbridge for the morning. Both options were well received and provided something for everyone. This was the first time we have offered a local coach trip and it proved very successful. We will certainly be offering something similar next year.
The weekend ended with a roast Sunday lunch at the hotel before everyone made their way home. The staff at the HDA certainly enjoyed the weekend (we particularly enjoyed seeing Pete in his makeup, but Pete, where was the dress?!) and we hope that those of you who attended (and more!) will be joining us again next year. A special thanks to Becky, whose first AGM it was, but managed most of the organising of the event which enabled it to run smoothly, and to Bill for his enormous contribution to the running of the weekend. A special thank you to our sponsors, whose contribution means that we are able to subsidise the cost of the weekend for our delegates. Most importantly, thank you to everyone who attended for making the weekend so special!
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