Vicky's run

We are hugely grateful to all the people who have entered sponsored events for us recently. There seems to have been a marked increase since last year, a sign that more and more people are noticing BRACE and wanting to support our work.

One of the most recent runners was Vicky Ledbury. Vicky had already run for BRACE in the 2011 London Marathon but wanted to carry on supporting us. She entered the BUPA 10k last weekend, a shorter run which used part of the planned route for the Olympic Marathon.

I asked Vicky if she could tell us something of her experience, and this is what she wrote:

“I was honoured to be able to run the BUPA London 10k on Sunday 27^th May to raise money for BRACE.  I wanted to be able to support the work that BRACE does as my father in law was badly affected by dementia in the last months of his life, and it had a profound effect on our family.

“It was a scorching hot day in London, and was described by some as like running in an oven.  They weren’t far wrong!  It is a great event, and gave me the opportunity to do some sightseeing as well as some exercise!  The last event I’d done in London (also for BRACE) was also a very hot day so Joe must have been watching down on me to make sure I was earning every penny of sponsorship!  Thinking of him, and knowing that the money is going to such a fantastic cause, kept me going all the way round.  Even though I was slower than I hoped it was a great feeling to cross the finishing line and look up at Buckingham Palace.  I also got to cheer on Mo Farah on his way to winning the race and that was a real highlight!”

Many thanks, Vicky, for your determination to support BRACE in this way and for the money you raised on Sunday.

"A golden age"

Forgive my repeating this if you’ve already read it, but it’s just too good to miss!

When The Post (formerly the Bristol Evening Post) interviewed Professor Seth Love at the end of last week, he said two really important things. First, that he believes dementia research in Bristol to be entering a “golden age”. Second, that none of this would be happening were it not for BRACE. It’s well worth reading the full article.

Seth Love is a senior figure in Bristol University and in dementia research. Furthermore, while being independent of BRACE, he advises our Trustees on scientific matters and knows well what the charity does. He is therefore well qualified to say what he did.

This isn’t about the charity feeling smug and wanting everyone to say how wonderful it is. Something more important (and far less annoying) is apparent here. It means, first, that the research that is happening in this region is growing in importance and effect. It also means that everyone who has helped BRACE is making a difference in the global fight against dementia.

If you ever wondered whether it was worth running that marathon or helping at that cake stall, now you know!

One of the things that make us different

It was our Annual Meeting on Monday evening. I know, it sounds rather dull – an AGM, yawn.

But the BRACE Annual Meeting isn’t an AGM. We don’t have shareholders or anything like that, so there’s no formal business. No elections, no arm-twisting to get reluctant volunteers to take committee roles.

Our Annual Meeting involves some short presentations about the charity’s work and a longer talk by a researcher. This year, Dr Liz Coulthard from The BRACE Centre gave a really interesting overview of current research that she and colleagues are involved in.

A large proportion of the people there were scientists of one sort or another – biochemists, psychologists, neurologists – from all four universities where BRACE currently supports research. The rest were mostly volunteers and supporters.

This represents one of the things that make BRACE different. If you support a big national charity, you might never get to meet the people whose work you are supporting. I love seeing our supporters meeting the scientists, asking them questions, finding out first hand what’s happening in the fight against dementia.

Turning that round, one of the scientists came up to me after the meeting and said how impressed he was by all the hard work that was going into fundraising. It made me realise that the encounter was a learning process for everyone.

It’s not every research charity that can bring people together in this way.

We're live!

For the past few weeks, we’ve been working on our new website and it’s now live.

This will make such a difference to our ability to communicate what we are doing and make it easier for people to help us in all sorts of ways. If you like it, please use the social media buttons to tell your friends.

The website was designed by GWS Media in central Bristol, who have given us excellent service over many years.

We are also indebted, as always, to our numerous volunteer fundraisers, who have provided such superb photos. There will be more to come.

That's how to treat a target

IOP Publishing just made my day. They adopted a £500 fundraising target when they opted in to our “Silver Service” 25^th anniversary campaign. Then they set their own target and multiplied the original by ten.

If anything works in fundraising, it’s  a mixture of ambition and cheerful enthusiasm. The IOP staff evidently have lots of both and they’ve made a great start after just one event.

What more could any charity ask for?