Turriff-ic support for diabetes charity
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Turriff has once again shown its supportive spirit after a fundraising event for the Junior Diabetes Research Fund Scotland (JDRF) raised a fantastic £16,500 thanks to the generosity of supporters.
Organised by a committee of locals who all have a personal connection to family and friends with type 1 diabetes, this was the largest event to be held in Turriff so far for the charity which funds research to improve lives and to eventually eradicate the condition.
Turriff Bowling Club welcomed over 250 ladies to the Lets Sparkle Ladies Day on Saturday afternoon.
Entertainment was provided by musicians Shannon Feely and Nick Innes, with compere Iain Thain hosting the centre piece auction which saw items including half day tuition at Eat on the Green with chef Craig Wilson, Prosecco afternoon tea at the Fife Arms and a diamond and gold necklace from Roselane Antiques up for grabs.
As organiser Carol Carle said: "This event came about as all of us have connections to type 1 diabetes, my son has, my daughter's best friend has, as do family members of the rest of the committee.
"We've previously had coffee mornings for fundraising but wanted to do something bigger and this is where the Ladies Day idea came from.
"The support for JDRF has been simply outstanding and we can't thank everyone who came along or who supported us enough for their generosity.
"We are genuinely overwhelmed by the amount of money we have raised."
The sentiments were echoed by JDRF Regional Fundraising manager for Scotland, Carol Kennedy who said: "JDRF are simply astounded at the amount raised and can't thank the group enough for the support given to us.
"The funds will be used directly to lead the fight against type 1 diabetes with ground breaking research."
With Thursday marking World Diabetes Day, the increase year on year in the population is firmly in focus.
The UK has one of the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world, for reasons that are currently unknown and around 29,000 children have the condition.
According to JDRF the incidence is increasing by about four per cent each year, particularly in children under five, with a five per cent increase each year in this age group over the last 20 years.
In the latest research funded by the charity a group of scientists at the University of Oxford, led by JDRF-funded Professor John Todd, has found that people who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at a very young age are likely to have more changes to key immune system genes than people diagnosed with type 1 later in life.
For more information on the work done by the charity visit https://jdrf.org.uk
