Warm-hearted Navigation Inn guests raise an incredible £13.5k for brain charity

Fifty guests packed The Navigation Inn in Dobcross for a fund-raiser in aid of The National Brain Appeal.

Over £13,500 was raised far exceeding the organisers expectations with all proceeds going directly to the charity.

The Navigation provided an excellent dinner and the raffle and auction generated excitement and added significant funds to the total.

The evening was generously supported by several local businesses in Uppermill; The Flower Shop, Neil Mellors Butchers, Neutrabeauty, The Wine Vault and The Navigation, while there were many generous donations, raffle prizes and auction items.

The National Brain Appeal (NBA) has committed to raise £7million towards the creation of UCL’s new, state-of-the-art neuroscience hub in London.

Bringing together research scientists, clinicians and patients, the centre will house a world leading facility for dementia and neurological disease research, with more than 500 neurological research scientists from UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and the UK Dementia Research Institute.

The association with NBA comes through one of the organisers' close family friends, whose daughter, and one of the organisers' Goddaughter, has been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of dementia, Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), at the age of just 28.

She is the only person in the country known to have this condition which affects one in 100,000,000 people.

It is extremely rare and debilitating.

Hers is an aggressive form of PCA and at the age of 30 she has significantly reduced mobility, difficulty with communication and vision.

Organiser Ian Mills said: “Many people will have some family contact with dementia, but usually it affects people later in life.

"My Goddaughter has developed an extremely rare from of PCA at a very young age.

"It is an aggressive and disabling condition.

"Unfortunately there are no cures so raising funds to support research into neurological issues is essential.

"We have been overwhelmed by people's generosity, kindness and support.

"We cannot thank everyone who has supported enough.”

The team at UCL in London have been extremely supportive, but there is no known cure for these types of condition and ongoing research is vital.

This was the second local fundraiser for this cause with a PCA Walk in June 2023 raising £38,000, bringing the total raised so far to £50,000.

Funds are still being raised via the Just Giving page - please click here

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