Gloucestershire Arthritis Trust Recent News

September 2011

On Sunday September 4th, GAT returned for the annual Westbury Summer Show. Although it rained on and off, the show was a great success and GAT will be back there next year. Dot Roberts, her husband Elwyn, Liz White and Doug Smith manned the stand selling cards and gifts - they managed to raise £200.10p.

On Wednesday, Sept 13th, we were at Gloucester Royal Hospital collecting a cheque for £500 from George Walker who had raised the money during his time in office as the Master of the Zetland Masonic Lodge. We will allocate the funds to support their Hydrotherapy pool.

August 2011

On August 4th we were invited to the Sir Thomas Rich Bowls Club to receive a cheque for £910 from the last ever Gloucester Bowls Tournament Gala Day. The tournament was established in 1942 and ran over 5 days across various locations. According to Dave Hopkins their constitution stated that should they disband all the remaining funds should go to charity. They divided the funds between GAT and the Macmillan Cancer Support charity.

Sophie Thompson literally "fell from the heavens" doing a sponsored Parachute jump to raise just over £703 for GAT, marking her 30th birthday.

July 2011

On July 21st Mollie Wise and her hard-working team of helpers set another record for a GAT Coffee Morning, by raising a grand total of £1,448.00. Nearly 100 people arrived at Mollie’s home in Bourton-on-the-Water to be tempted by the cakes, gifts, garden produce, cards and a raffle. The weather was thankfully kind to us. GAT’s stand was manned by Caroline Morton and it contributed £220.00 towards Mollie’s total.

June 2011

We were pleased to receive news that David Lawrence, a previous Secretary to GAT, had been awarded Citizen of the Year 2011 for Fairford. The citation reads "David quietly carries out many roles to help in the community - Walking for Health, Volunteer Hospital Driver, Church Steward, Thames Path Warden as well as Flying Scholarships for the Disabled."

After a long hot sunny Spring, we knew it wouldn’t be long before an event was hit by rain. Sure enough the Sacred Hearts Summer Fair on June 11th in Charlton Kings was just that event. Wendy Davies, Pat Hart, Liz White and Julie Wand were all ready for the crowds when the heavens opened and everyone ran for cover - but we managed to raise £118.60p.

April / May 2011

The combination of a late Easter, the Royal Wedding and the early May Bank Holiday meant we were busy at a number of Cotswold village Teas and Flower festivals. Events in the villages of Bibury and nearby Barnsley helped GAT raise £418.86p.