Dear Friends,
I hope this letter finds you well and happy at the start of a brand new year. We have a lot going on this year to look forward to and a lot to celebrate as a branch from 2019.
We raised an amazing amount of money during 2019 in the way of sporting activities and our own events. I feel as a branch we are great at looking outside of the box for inspiration when it comes to fund raising. We sent eleven people up 3 mountains and a team of 7 on a massive cycle ride! When we find raise at HDA Bristol, we don’t do it by half! We kick off this year’s fund raising with a team of 10 people taking on the bonkers Battle of Landsdown in Bath on March 28th with a goal of raising £2000 for the branch. The link for the fund-raising page is on the website and Facebook.
Our events were also a great success in 2019, with the ever popular quizzes now twice a year to the massively successful (If I do say so myself!) HDA Bristol Presents back in August. We are proving that as a branch, we can come together, have a great time and still raise a large amount of money. Both the quizzes and HDA Presents will be back for 2021, if you have anything we can raffle or auction please get in touch!
With the AGM coming up on April 3rd at 19:00 in Keynsham Masonic Hall, I urge all of you to please come along. You may think its not really the type of thing you would come to or you may not be adding any value but in 2020 we would really like to connect to everyone as a branch. We are a big family and we want you to have your say on things coming up, how we can fundraise and also where you would like us to spend your money.
The committee currently stands nearly the same as last year. Myself, Mark as Chairman, Lesley Secretary, Jason as Treasurer with Karen and Linda on the committee, but if you would like to join us, please let us know, we welcome new people to the committee and never turn away someone that wants to help us. If you have the time to spare and want to get involved, please do! We need more people involved for the future of your branch.
This brings me nicely on to 2021. In May 2021 it will have been 10 years since my run to London for HDA Bristol Branch. I have been involved in one way or another for the past 10 years and spent 3 years as your Chairman. In between I often raise money for Cancer or more recently MS charities. I don’t think I could put a figure on the amount of money raised but I would imagine somewhere around £30,000 I have been involved raising money over the last 10 years for different causes. I feel that it is probably time that I took a break from raising money for charity on a personal level and away from the HDA Bristol Branch. So sadly, I will be standing down in April 2021. Please come and get involved, we need people like you to keep the wheels turning!
Our emphasis in 2020 will be to get more people involved. If you are coming along to a fundraiser, please tell all of your friends and bring them along. If you know someone HD that needs additional help, bring them along to one of the family events. We are also in talks to create a support group that meets every month in Longwell Green. Details of this will follow.
Thank you all so much for your support over the last 12 months and we look forward to another great year with you.
Mark Bywater and the Committee
Huntington’s Disease Association Bristol Branch.