Meeting Two at The New Madeira Hotel, Marine Parade, Brighton

After a hugely successful re-launch, the Brighton Diabetes UK Voluntary and Support Group held their follow-up meeting once again at The New Madeira Hotel, on Marine Parade, Brighton. Never expecting to top the 87 people we squeezed in at the March launch, we were still astounded at the turn-out of 76 people, without any kind of media exposure or posters! Thanks goes to all of them first and foremost for a) turning up in the first place, and b) being so patient as we battled technical problems left, right and centre!

As our roving phototograther Chris Kift took a few snaps, Chairman Alex Hawkey took to the stage to welcome back those who attended last time and greet any newcomers too and followed this by detailing a few of the events that are soon to be taking place across the city over the coming months, including National Diabetes Week from 11th-15th June (details of which can be found in the Diary section of this site). He also actively encouraged anyone who has any ideas for fundraising/social events to get in touch - watch this space! Contact us if you do.

We then welcomed Philip Athyal from national charity CSV to the stage to speak about the importance of email and the internet in voluntary groups. Philip cited communication between group members as the best way forward and, in today's society, email especially can open lines of communication with the greatest of ease and will only help to make the group stronger and more dynamic, as ideas can be passed around and members contacted at the touch of a button. Philip has been kind enough to dedicate two free three-hour sessions to the Brighton Voluntary Group and give those who are not connected with email and the internet the chance to experience it for the first time. We had 18 sign up on the day and hope for many more in the future! More details as it happens.

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After a well-earned tea-break, Dr. Nick Vaughan, Diabetes Consultant at The Royal Sussex County Hospital, took to the stage to speak about Diabetes Care, both locally and nationally. High on the agenda was national proposals to move care from secondary (specialist clinics) to primary (GPs surgeries), something that threatens both the the level of treatment people with diabetes receive and the specialist care profession. Dr. Vaughan also held a brief question-and-answer session to the room, in which he covered how children and people with Type 2 diabetes were likely to be affected by the above changes. We, as a group, are keen to express our feelings on the cuts to specialist services and we are working out a strategy which we hope can unite other voluntary groups around the country. Please get in touch with us via our contact page for more information.

The evening drew to a close at just after 9pm, but many were happy to stick around and chat and help clear up - many thanks again to The New Madeira Hotel, Kathy for ensuring everyone was signed in properly, Diane for providing refreshments and Chris for not only doing an excellent job at emulating the paparazzi, but also putting together a stellar newsletter!

See you all again on Tuesday 12th July, once again at the good old New Madeira Hotel.