As you know, we’ve moved our blog over to the main website, you can now find it at http://www.mndscotland.org.uk/category/news/fundraising-news/

A couple of you had asked about subscribing by email – I’m afraid that we currently can’t subscribe you to this part of the site by email, however there is an RSS feed (works in most browsers – you can find out more about feeds here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10628494), or you could certainly subscribe to the site through an news aggregation site like Google Reader.  We’d love you to pop over to the site though!

If you’ve got any queries at all, please do just drop me a line – sara.thomas@mndscotland.org.uk

Thanks

You can now find out weekly posts at http://www.mndscotland.org.uk/category/news/fundraising-news/

This week, we’re launching our New Year’s Resolutions campaign…

Hope to see you there!

January is a busy month for us.  And we like it that way, frankly!  It’s busy because lots of you lovely lovely people get to the beginning of January, and sign up for marathons.  And 10ks.  Or decide to organise your own event.  All in the name of fighting MND.

This year, we thought we’d try and give all these New Year’s Resolution-ers a helping hand.

We’ve pulled together a huge list of events taking place throughout next year, and will be loading them into a calendar of events on our main website (www.mndscotland.org.uk)

Once it’s all launched and ready, there’ll be a special button to click next to all the events, which will enable you to make a New Year’s Resolution to do that event.  If you don’t see something you like, you can organise your own event.  Or if you’d like to do an event but we’ve not listed it, then you can tell us about it!

Do something special for MND Scotland

Now we know that one of the best ways to keep a New Year’s Resolution is to tell everyone you know.  So once you’ve made your resolution we’ll help you do that (plus we’ll add you to our Wall of Fame)– in fact, we’ll help you get registered for your chosen event, we can give you tips for making the most of your JustGiving page, we can send you branded tshirts and sponsor forms and all sorts of stuff… everything you need to help you keep your resolution.

What will your resolution be?

However, although the weather was very cold, there was no sign of snow (unlike today…), so we congregated on Mister Singh’s India in Glasgow for our Curry & Race Night.  We were delighted to see some new faces amongst the regulars!

We had a cracking night, with some great food and nearly £1000 raised to help fight MND in Scotland.

Thanks to all who came along, bet on horses and made the night such a success!

What this means is that anyone who wants to take part in aid of MND Scotland is probably going to need to enter the public ballot.  This week we’re speaking to Ian Goudie, who managed to get a place for the 2012 race through that ballot, and will very kindly be running for us!  Thanks so much to Ian for supporting us in this way, and for contributing to the blog….

Ian in action!

How did you get your place in the London Marathon? 

 I’m a bit of a serial racer, having run more than 60 events this year alone, so although I do run some charity races (including the MND Race at Strathclyde Park.)  I’m a member of Kilmarnock Harriers and enjoy being part of the running community in Scotland, it would be unfair on my friends and colleagues if I was to ask them to sponsor me on a regular basis.  However I am aware that many runners do ask for sponsorship for the London Marathon and that charities get much needed publicity as well as funding as a result of their efforts.   After watching last year’s London Marathon, I thought that it would be good to experience the event for myself.  I ran the first Edinburgh Marathon in 1983 and have only managed two more since then, I’ve never even applied for London before and I’ve heard just how difficult it is to secure a place, so you can imagine my surprise to be informed that my name had come out of the ballot and my first attempt.

Why did you decide to fundraise for MND Scotland?

 In order to keep me focussed on my training programme, I decided that I should run on behalf of a charity.  There are many worthwhile causes to support but as my sister had died after a long period of illness from Motor Neurone Disease, I have first hand knowledge of hard the disease is on sufferers and their carers.  I’m aware that MND Scotland fulfil a, much needed, positive role in supporting those affected by Motor Neurone Disease but they are a relatively small charity and I feel that any money that I can raise for them will make a meaningful contribution to their work.

What will your training involve?

 I have tremendous respect for the Marathon and the lengthy period of training that runners put in prior to Race day.  I’ll be following an 18 week training plan, commencing on 18^th December, which will see me training six days a week and covering some 1161 miles, in all types of weather, to prepare my self for the race.

What would you say to anyone else planning on doing a running event for charity?

My philosophy is that if I put in the hard work in training then I can relax and enjoy the race itself.  If you’re thinking about taking up running then I would strongly recommend that you set yourself an achievable target.  Don’t start off with aiming for a marathon, go for something that will reward you for your efforts.  The MND Scotland Runs in Strathclyde Park in May are excellent start points for runners and of course they help raise money for a good cause.  These days there’s no need for the loneliness of long (or short) distance runners as jogscotland and many local Running Clubs cater for runners of all levels.  Join one of them and you’ll not only receive expert coaching but also a warm welcome into the Scottish Running family.

You can keep up to date with Ian’s running progress over at his blog: http://jimmihenshite.blogspot.com/

Thanks again Ian, and good luck with your training!

As you probably know, the number of people affected by MND has gone up quite substantially – 50% in the last 4 years – and that’s seriously increased the pressure on our frontline services.  In the north of Scotland, our Care Specialist currently looks after 69 people, and the pressures of geography mean that it’s very difficult for her to see every patient with the frequency she’d like.  As MND can affect speech, telephone consultations can only go so far – much of the essential patient assessment she needs to do is visual.

In partnership with the Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare and the Scottish Centre for Technology for the Communication-Impaired we successfully completed a pilot study in the north of Scotland, providing small videoconferencing units to MND patients in their own home and at their local community hospital.  Telehealth doesn’t replace face to face care – it supplements it, and means that the Care Specialist can effectively prioritise her workload.  Imagine the difference that this makes to the number of patients that can be assessed when you’re looking at a 420-mile round trip from Aberdeen to Wick.

Now we’re going one step further.

pic from www.apple.com

The money we’ve been given by Tesco means that we can extend this programme.  We’re going to buy 20 iPad2s, load them with the appropriate videoconferencing and speech synthesis software, and help with broadband installation where we can.

Using these devices, we’ll be able to connect more people with the specialist Telehealth centre in Aberdeen.   It means that more people with MND, and their carers, will be able to be in more frequent contact with their Clinical Specialist.  It means that we’re able to provide more effective care to those that need it.

Thank you Tesco Charity Trust!

Here’s a bit of Maggie in her own words…

Although new to MND Scotland, I have had considerable experience within the field of welfare rights having worked as a Welfare Rights Officer with a local authority for eight years dealing with individuals with a wide variety of individuals with various health issues and complex needs.  

I feel it is really important for people to get the correct advice particular to their personal circumstances in order that they have the information to make informed choices.  Money worries and financial stress can be a major cause for concern to those affected by MND. The benefit system is complicated and can be difficult to negotiate at any time and this can appear to become a bigger hurdle when you are trying to deal with it when unwell.

The Welfare & Benefits service is in place to provide advice and assistance with the somewhat labyrinthine system of benefits for people affected by MND in Scotland.  Living with MND can massively increase your outgoings – loss of earnings, increase in travel costs with going to and from repeat hospital appointments, an increase in fuel bills as you spend more time at home, adaptations to your house, a change in diet … and so Vicki and Maggie give our clients help with everything from Blue badge applications to Disability Living Allowance.

Since May 2009, Vicki has obtained almost £900,000 in benefits and other entitlements for her clients – and she’s hoping to hit the £1m mark before Christmas.  Both Maggie and Vicki have identified welfare reform as the biggest future challenge to the service – we’re anticipating a pretty big increase in demand, and it’s already starting to show.

You can see Maggie’s AGM presentation about changes to the Benefits system and how it will affect those with MND, their families and carers below:

Welcome to MND Scotland Maggie!

Star of our video, Allan Barr, & Family

 Photo by Ian Freck

It’s always great to see so many of our supporters, even better when we’re getting together to raise some much needed cash to help those in Scotland affected by Motor Neurone Disease.  So thanks to everyone who entered the raffle and the Gift Aid draw, thanks to all those who bid on items and all those who donated.  Put the ticket sales on top of that and we raised over £13,000!

Winners of this year's John MacLeod Award, John & Anne Bellshaw

 Photo by Ian Freck

Congratulations go to John & Anne Bellshaw, who received this year’s John MacLeod Award for services to the MND community in Scotland.  Over the past 15 years they’ve raised around £100,000 to support those affected by MND in Scotland.  They’re an amazing couple and we’re incredibly proud to know them.

 Photo by Ian Freck

Special mention also goes to Allan Barr, who appeared in this year’s film.  We were very happy to have him and his family at the Ball, and we’ll be talking a bit more about the film later in the year.

Thanks must also go to our set up volunteers from Scottish Water, to Stuart Green for making the video that we showed at the beginning of the event, Ian Freck for taking the pictures (which you can view on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianfreck/sets/72157628006732760/with/6296815934/) and the staff at the Crowne Plaza, who were extremely helpful!

Well, they got back, they survived (just)… and by all accounts had an absolutely amazing time.   Here’s a couple of photos….

Gobi United - in the Desert!

Jock on the tarmac...

In full team kit...

sitting outside "home"

And having raised a huge amount of money for us and the Davie Cooper Centre.  We don’t know exactly how much yet, as money’s still coming in, but we’ll have a better idea when we meet them this week!

So here’s a HUGE thank you from all of us here at MND Scotland towers and from the MND Community in Scotland – your support really will make a huge difference guys.  Thank you.

Overseas treks like this can raise an enormous amount of money.  But there’s a reason that they’re called “Challenge Events” – anyone who thinks that it’s just a holiday is really quite mistaken.  Whether it’s cycling the length of the UK, or to Paris, or braving altitude sickness and blisters and all the rest to go to Machu Picchu http://www.mndscotland.org.uk/supportus/fundraisingnews.php or climbing a mountain like Kilimanjaro, these are serious challenges that are undertaken by amazing individuals. And we’re very grateful to them!

In terms of keeping in contact with you about what we do and why we do it we think that we’re doing okay, but we’re always trying to improve.  Not everyone uses twitter, or facebook, and not everyone reads the blog.  Google+ hasn’t really released organisational pages yet.  We know that you don’t all like to be contacted in the same way, and we know that all these ways of contacting you are good in different ways.

you've got mail!

There are a number of people who’ve signed up to hear news from us after they’ve sponsored someone on JustGiving or VirginMoneyGiving, with whom we’ve not been in contact, and we’d like to be.   It’s also true that some of those on our database might not want to receive news through the mail, but wouldn’t mind getting news by email.  (and indeed, vice-versa).

It’s a fairly fundamental tenet of fundraising that you let donors know what you do with their money.  And we want to be better at communicating with you.

So: we’re now officially launching our new fundraising e-newsletter!   We’ll be sending a monthly email that goes to everyone who’s told us that it’s ok to contact them (hello Data Protection) and anyone that signs up on our main website http://www.mndscotland.org.uk  (sign up box is in the right hand colum) – and all being well, the first issue will go out this week.

It’s going to be pretty short and sweet – a couple of pieces of fundraising news, information about upcoming events, information about how we’re spending your money, links back to the blog, that kind of thing.

Here’s hoping you like it… feedback is most welcome!