Raising awareness

As I start to write this, I'm sitting behind the BRACE table at a business exhibition at Bristol City's stadium. The fact that I'm writing my blog instead of coping with enquirers crowding three deep round our table will tell you that it's a bit quiet at the moment. However, the conversations we had earlier have already made this exercise worthwhile.

This is all part of "raising awareness". Awareness of dementia and the potential of scientific research, awareness of BRACE and its part in this work. It's an essential activity for a fundraising charity. The simple and often urgent thought process in fundraising is a straight line from a problem to a potential solution... and therefore the need for money or gifts in kind.

Next week we are attempting something more ambitious. We have organised a major debate about dementia, hosted by the University of the West of England and chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby. We have a heavyweight panel, with great knowledge of science, medicine, public policy, care management and the experience of supporting a loved one with dementia. There will be scientists, clinicians and many others with valuable expertise in the audience.

What we are hoping to achieve is a discussion both wider and deeper than is normally possible at gatherings concerned with dementia. It is unusual to find such a diverse range of skills and perspectives in such a public setting.

Public? Ah, that reminds me. As well as the 250 people in the room, we shall be sharing the debate with you and anyone else who wants to watch online. The webcast will be made available through our Facebook page and you can join in on Twitter.

Date: Thursday 3rd October  Time: 7pm (19:00 BST)

Publishing time again

Where will you find a world class violinist, a former band member with Lennon and McCartney, one of the UK's best known broadcasters and news of a potential Alzheimer's treatment? In the BRACE Newsletter, of course!

We publish our Newsletter just twice a year, and I always look forward to the week when that happens. The spring issue comes out in the first week of April and the autumn issue in the first week of September.

It takes a lot of work to get to this point, of course, and I am hugely grateful to volunteer editor Emma Stevenson and designer Lesley Hill from MammalCreate for all their hard work and skill. The material they work with is provided by the BRACE staff team, the scientists and many of the supporters we thank in the pages of the Newsletter itself.

Getting the balance of the Newsletter right is not a simple task. To cut a very long story ridiculously short, we have a mixture of scientific research stories to inform readers about some of the progress being made, and fundraising stories to inspire others while thanking people who have done particularly remarkable things or raised a lot of money.

You can read it online or email us if you want a paper copy posted. We also have a new Research Update, focusing this year on clinical research and can send a copy by post or email.