Remember a Charity Week

Remember a Charity Week – 13-19 September

Gifts in Wills are a vital source of income for all charities, and NRAS is no exception! Our income from such gifts is still quite small but our Legacy campaign has now been in place since late 2007 and we continue to make people aware of how easy it is to leave a gift in their Will to charity and how essential these gifts are for us to be able to plan for the future.

We are members of Remember a Charity, a consortium of charities which works together to raise awareness of gifts in Wills, and the week beginning 13th September is the annual awareness week. There are a number of events happening during the week including a photographic exhibition, Legacies Through a Lens, at the Oxo Tower in London which will showcase photos taken by various celebrities including Gordon Ramsay, Alexandra Burke and Timothy Spall, capturing the work of legacies and the difference that they can make to a charity. If you would like to visit, entry is free.

For the Twitter users out there all members of Remember a Charity are asking their supporters to take part in a digital shout at 12pm on Tuesday 14th September to collectively spread the word about Remember a Charity week via Twitter and Facebook. This will coincide with Charity Tuesday on Twitter, so we would like to ask as many of you as possible to use the hash tag #charitytuesday or #racweek for extra emphasis and tweet! How about something like ‘This week is #racweek. Please remember NRAS in your Will and help the work live on #charitytuesday.

If any of you would like to know more about our legacy campaign I would be more than happy to talk to you so do call me. Leaving a gift in your Will is the perfect way of continuing to support a cause that mattered to you during your lifetime, so it really is a legacy for the future.

I hope you will all enjoy the last remnants of summer and what will hopefully be a kind Autumn.

Tracey
Fundraising Manager

Membership update from Sally!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all enjoyed the few weeks of sunshine we had, I know I did, but winter seems to be coming around all too quickly.


I wanted to give you all a quick update on membership, just to let you all know what we have been up to recently.


Sadly, Sarah Ball is leaving us at the beginning of September, to go travelling. We will all miss her terribly, but wish her well on her travels (and are all a little jealous if we’re honest!)

But on a brighter note, we have a new member of staff, Emma Nelson, who will be stepping into Sarah’s shoes, and has settled in very well. I am sure you will meet Emma in the coming weeks and months at the numerous group meetings and events that she will be taking part in, so please wish her a warm welcome when you meet.

There are a few events taking place over the next month or two, some of which I will be attending. The first is the Naidex South Exhibition in London on September 30th. This is an event to showcase all of the current and new to market products for home assistance. They range from kitchen gadgets to cars. If you are also attending (or would like to) let me know, and perhaps we could meet up. Please click here for more information about the exhibition if you are interested in coming along

I look forward to hopefully seeing some of you there.

Also I am attending the ‘Day to Day Living Well with Arthritis and other Connective Tissue Diseases’ event in Portsmouth on October 6th. NRAS will have a stand there, so if you are planning on coming along, it would be good to hear from you, and to see you on the day.

I’d really like to get your feedback on both of these events, so if you manage to attend, please drop me a line or give me a call, and we can compare notes!

I hope you are all well, and if you have any membership queries, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Bye for now

Sally

Welcome Emma P!

Hello

Just a quick intro about me - I’m Emma P, I have recently replaced Paul and work with Clare on the Volunteer Network, it’s still early days and I’m still finding my feet however settling in extremely well and slowly but surely learning more about our 38 NRAS groups as the weeks go by.

NRAS is a fantastic organisation and I feel honoured to be working with a charity that offers so much help to people who are affected by RA, a disease close to my heart as my mum was diagnosed 4 years ago.

Since I started working for NRAS I have attended the Bournemouth Group Launch on my 2nd day (words like Deep & End spring to mind!!), overwhelming to say the least, however the attendance was fantastic and a big eye opener to see first hand how important and beneficial these groups are for people living with RA. Clare had a successful Blackpool launch in July and thank you to all those who attended. We are currently setting up another group in the Lewisham area of London, working closely with the Rheumatology teams at Kings College & Lewisham Hospital, with the launch due in November – date to be confirmed. If anyone is interested in attending please contact me on 0845 458 3969. 

We are also organising the Co-ordinators two day training course on the 14th & 15th September, very informative for all those new Co-ordinators who have recently joined us and would like to know more about NRAS, and also give me an opportunity to meet everyone. Clare is busy working on two more group launches in Chertsey on the 16th Sept and Stoke Manderville on the 21st Sept, please contact us if you would like further information or wish to attend.

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts, and I hope to speak with you soon.

Best wishes

Emma P