About Us
The South Yorkshire Branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND Association) supports people throughout South Yorkshire affected by MND, whether they are a person living with MND, a carer, family member or friend.
The volunteers running the branch have a lot of experience about MND, but would like to hear from others who may want to become involved. We welcome new ideas and suggestions.
The branch committee meet regularly.
Chairman Mel White - symndchair1@yahoo.co.uk - 01226 764710 joined in 2012
Treasurer Paul Hebblethwaite - paulh@haywoodandco.com - 01142 681441 (work) 01142 363222 (home) has kept the accounts for many years.
Kirsteen Booy was welcomed onto the committee in 2019 as the Assistant Treasurer. Kirsteen has a career background in accountancy and will be an additional source of help with the branch finances.
Chris Naylor - chris222@sky.com -
01142 653774 is our Secretary. Chris also edits our newsletter.
Brian Jackson - associationvisitor.bj@gmail.com - 07467 242232 is one of the branch visitors but Brian is also the contact for anyone applying for a Quality of Life, Young Person's or Carer's support grant through the branch.
Present Branch Contact is Ann Quinn - 07776191333 - mndvisitor@gmail.com Ann frequently talks to people newly diagnosed, about all the support that is offered locally. Ann also manages the website
Our Patron
Suzanne Maguire accepted the post of Patron of the South Yorkshire Branch a few years ago. Suzanne is a writer of children's books and works with her mother Eve who also writes. Suzanne has been living with MND for over 18years, and was inspired to write about fictional characters "where anything can happen" when her own boys were young. It's given her hope and motivation to carry on, watch her boys become young men and not let MND bring her down.
Visitors
We have a team of trained Visitors who are able to keep in regular contact, either by visiting people at home or keeping in touch by telephone, text or email. Please ring our branch contact for more details.
Fundraising
Fundraising is a really important aspect of the work of the branch. We are one of 89 branches of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, charity number 294354.
Fundraising by others makes a big difference to the support we can give.
If you are arranging your own fundraising event let us know in plenty of time and we can advertise it here on the website, on Social Media or in our quarterly newsletter.
We can supply sponsorship forms for you or provide leaflets, balloons and other resources. Fundraising online is simple using our Branch JustGiving page.
Geoff Bland - gbland7@protonmail.com - 01226 245811 is happy to help with any fundraising enquiries.
Geoff meets up with other committee members Dave Booker, Andy Jaffray, and Trevor Peacock to plan Events throughout the year.
The money raised by us, and others through fundraising and donations is used in a variety of ways to support people affected by MND. There are three different Support Grants that the branch can administer. We have guidelines to follow for funding grants, but generally if we can help we will. Contact Jane, Marlene, or Brian Jackson associationvisitor.bj@gmail.com for more details and they will also complete the grant forms for the branch on your behalf.
Raising awareness and sharing information are very important. Our newsletters are available on the website and we post out and electronically distribute hundreds of copies each quarter. If you know anywhere we can display them please let us know. Sharing news, information or your personal experiences can be useful to others. We are happy to add your photos or articles to this site. Alternatively you can just pass on the details you want to share and we'll put something together for you.
Cath Groom: Cath has been a volunteer on the branch committee longer than any other member. Cath also set up the first Rotherham meeting over 20 years ago and has been providing the refreshments at our meetings and events ever since.
Publicity: We currently have a vacancy for Publicity Officer.
