This was a special day for George and Mary Mowbray as it was there diamond wedding anniversary and George secretly had arranged with his family who came up from England for a special night in the Tutties Neuk Inn in Arbroath this was on the Saturday night (5th July). On the night there they managed to raise a cheque to the value of £310.00 which was then donated to our branch. We also presented George and Mary with a bouquet of flowers for their special day.
Anne & Terry were away on holiday on their (Ruby) 40th Wedding Anniversary, but the branch donated flowers to them when they returned. They were presented to them at their first committee meeting after their holiday. These can be shown underneath as they requested for this to be done.
The Park Hotel in Montrose where we had our last committee meeting on 27th October did not make a charge for this due to problems with noise levels in the hotel. I was asked by a committee member to put this up on the website.
There is to be an annual raffle prize draw to be drawn in the Old Abbey Church Hall Arbroath at the coffee morning event.
The tickets are on sale now priced at only 25p per ticket (4 in a book so a £1 per book) if you want any tickets then just contact any committee member who will arrange it for you.
The prizes are as follows:-
1st Prize-£100 Voucher for Alex Carswell (Electrical), Arbroath.
Dorothy Robertson from Kirriemuir.
2nd Prize-SD Audio Player-Donated by Alex Carswell Arbroath.
(To be updated).
3rd Prize - Hamper.
Winners were Margaret Balfour Forfar and Mary Mowbray Arbroath.
Plus Whisky, Chocolates, Wine and Numerous other Prizes.
(To be updated).
(on the day).Breakfast and register.
We arrived at Perth Concert Hall very early to avoid any parking issues, when we arrived we registered in at the foyer and had our breakfast, which consisted of tea and jam scones. These were lovely and there was also chocolate marshmallows for the ones who have a sweet tooth. There was a big choice of other eatables as well.
It was not long (how time flies when your chatting away) when we were asked to make our way to the Gannochy Auditorium, where the chairperson Elizabeth Quigley wife of John Swinney introduced the Lord Provost of Perth who welcomed us all to the Perth Concert Hall.
Exercises.
The next thing to happen was a lady (who's name escapes me) gave us all some exercises to carry out, she was very amusing with her shouting and whisperings which we were all meant to be repeating, this was so funny and she was very good at it too!
Lecture.
After this we got a lecture from an Action Research Professor of Neurology from the University of Oxford his name was George Ebers, George gave us a PowerPoint Presentation in the form of an overhead slide show explaining to us all about the genetics in MS. Professor George's talk was very interesting and he had a way of putting his good sense of humour into his messages, which made it easier to understand the points that he was making.
Samba Band
We had some lunch and listened to the drums being played by the Samba Band players, they were outside the entrance/exit to the main foyer playing in the street. They did a very good job and were very audible.
Therapy.
There was also (free 20 minute Therapy taster sessions), which were Aromatherapy, Indian head massage which Anne Villas had a taster of, the other free tasters were Reflexology and Tai Chi!
Information Technology
There was lots to do with an Internet Cafe with lots of computers set up to surf the superhighway, there was also a stall for disabled hardware which was getting demonstrated on computers to let people see just what can be done nowadays for people with dexterity problems. An example was big printed keyboard with big buttons and there was also big roller ball and other versions to be used as a mouse.
Hi-tech Hat.
They even had a hat that you could put on which is designed to tell which part of the screen you are looking at, and subsequently if you did not move your head, it would then click on the icon for you which you were presently looking at, very clever (this again is for people with bad dexterity).
MS Research
There was also an MS Research stand where you could pick up lots of types of literature, even a DVD for the kids for taking away home with you to explain in children's language what ms is all about.
(One example seen below I liked was a plastic card asking for help as you have ms with a host of options such as I need the toilet or I need to sit down).
There was a stand with a motorised disabled bed and there were lots of other stands promoting disabled goods, such as loud phone bells, electric can openers. So all things considered this was a worth while event, to let people see just what can be done, and what is getting researched, and what is on offer right now to just let people know.
We had a very nice day.