Three students from Sussex Downs College, Eastbourne, have been making a documentary about MS.

The students studying Media Production were given the task of making a ten-minute documentary on a subject of their choice.

The team Joanna Evenden, Dan Dunbar and James Miller have made the film to raise awareness of MS and have completed filming at the local MS Group on St Leonards Road Eastbourne. They undertook interviews with the Chairman Bernard Curtis and group members along with an interview with Debbie Soave, Senior Neuro-physiotherapist at the Eastbourne District General Hospital.

Dan Dunbar Producer said, "We wanted to make a documentary which was different, where others are making films on the local area we wanted to have a more personal side to ours and to build awareness on the subject of MS"

Joanna Evenden, Director said "We decided to make a film about MS because we thought it would be interesting and different to what other people in our class were doing. It was a good project to work on and I feel I have learnt a lot from it"

James Miller Director of Photography said "My mother has MS so I personally know how this disease can affect a person. It’s awesome how the Eastbourne & South Wealden MS Society does a lot to help local people who suffer from MS, and the volunteers deserve a lot of praise for the work they do"

Their lecturer at college Dave Alexander said "We have had a long running tradition of Media students undertaking projects like this with real institutions and groups in the community. I am very proud of them and their professional attitude to their work."

Bernard Curtis MS Chairman said "I am delighted that three young students devoted so much time and energy to this project, and in such a professional manner. They deserve the highest credit for helping us raise awareness of multiple sclerosis locally."

The finished film will be screened in the end of year show at Eversley House, Sussex Downs College Friday 11th June 2010 at 5pm.

Congratulations to our committee member Peter Austin in completing the London Marathon, returning home with a blistered toe, stiff legs and the all-important London Marathon medal.
Peter completed the 26mile 385yards course in four hours and 16 minutes, came 15,058th overall and 195th in the 60-64 age group.

He was running in aid of our Eastbourne & South Wealden MS branch and the Queen Alexandra Cottage Homes, and hopes to have raised several hundred pounds for each.
Peter said, "It was a fantastic day with amazing crowd support. I found the last few miles a real challenge, but knowing I had the support of so many sponsors was an inspiration." Branch chairman Bernard Curtis said:

'We are all immensely proud of Peter and his achievement; he has already raised a lot of money for us throughout the past year and we are extremely grateful for his support in fundraising and as a valued committee member.'

A young couple from Seaford not only achieved a personal record time in the bath Half-marathon, they capped a perfect day by raising nearly £900 in sponsorship money for the branch. Alice Collett and boyfriend Andy Coates (both currently at University in Bath) raised the money for the community support programme run by our Eastbourne & South Wealden MS branch. Seaford is one of the major areas of the branch with an increasing number of people affected by MS living there. Alice is the daughter of our Webmaster Andrew Collett, who runs our highly-successful website. Our Chairman, Bernard Curtis said:

'This is a wonderful personal achievement for Alice and Andy, and we congratulate them. We are extremely grateful to them for raising so much money for our community support programme, which aims to ensure that a diagnosis of MS does not lead to exclusion from the wider community. It is always a pleasure for us when young folk make the effort to raise money for the branch, and I know I speak for all our members when I say how proud we feel of Alice and Andy.'

Many thousands of pounds were raised for Eastbourne & South Wealden MS at the recent Mayor’s Ball at the Winter Garden, Eastbourne. As the Mayor’s charity, the Ball, was a major fundraising event as we go towards the end of our year as the chosen charity. We will know the total of all the Mayor’s fundraising events in the next month or so – and we can be sure that it will be well in excess of £10,000!!

We are delighted that our monthly magazine 'Mainstream' has an exclusive story in January written by Sam Szanto. 'Bubble', a story of a young girl coming to terms with her mother's MS, is currently being read to young people by the Mayoress of Eastbourne at schools throughout the Borough. Our chairman Bernard Curtis said:

"This is an extremely important event at the start of a year where I want to give raising awareness of MS the highest priority. If we can help young people understand, not only about MS, but also about physical disability, we are helping to give them a greater awareness of the society they will grow up in - which is not peopled by able-bodied folk only. I am delighted that the Mayoress has chosen to help us in this way during the year in which we are the Mayor's charity.

About the Author: Sam Szanto is a writer and editor whose short stories have been published both in print and online. She is currently working on her first novel. Sam completed a Masters degree in Creative Writing in 2009, and has subsequently edited an anthology of MA students' work, Shoots, to be published in 2010. Prior to starting a writing career, she worked for a national charity, Action for Blind People. She lives in Newcastle with her partner.

Nearly one hundred members and friends attended the MS Christmas Lunch at the Langham Hotel in Eastbourne on December 13th. It was fitting that in the year of being the Mayor's charity, the special guests this year were the Mayor & Mayoress of Eastbourne (Cllr. Greg Szanto and Clare Szanto). Chairman of Eastbourne & South Wealden MS, Bernard Curtis, thanked the Mayor and Mayoress for their tremendous support during the past six months, not only in raising funds but also for helping to raise awareness of MS.

"We are honoured to have been chosen as the Mayor's charity, and I would like to pay tribute to the Mayor and Mayoress for the incredible amount of work they have put in on our behalf, not only in giving us such a high profile but for the work they do behind the scenes in raising awareness of MS, particularly in all the schools they visit " he said.

CS Roofing Contractors business partners Peter Clarke and Paul Spencer raised £800 for Eastbourne & South Wealden MS by doing a sponsored charity sky dive from 12,000 feet. CS Roofing is hoping to organise yearly fundraising events for both local and national charities.
All money raised by Peter and Paul will be used by the MS community support team, operating from the MS Centre in St Leonards Road, Eastbourne, to help all people affected by MS in the Eastbourne & South Wealden area.
Sincere thanks to Peter and Paul for their support.

It was a pleasure to have the MS Society's Chief Executive, Simon Gillespie, as a visitor to our centre. We had the opportunity to discuss many issues concerning the future direction of the branch and the policies currently being reviewed by the MS National Centre.

Simon also met a number of our members and volunteers. The Branch Review commences nationally next year and we asked that we be given the opportunity to put forward the views of our members - we were assured that it would be a thorough review with a full consultation process.

IRay Morgan and Becky Goodchild completed 100 and 80 lengths respectively with their sponsored swim at 'Seaford Head' swimming pool on the 18th May 2009.

"It was my pleasure to watch them both complete their sponsorship targets. It seemed really hard work to me, and all I did was to help count the lengths!. Our most sincere thanks to them both for all efforts in raising £387 towards branch funds - it was greatly appreciated."

Margaret Barrett

It is an honour to announce that we are the chosen charity of the Mayor of Eastbourne for the coming year 2009/10. The support of Eastbourne's Mayor, Cllr Greg Szanto, over the coming year will help enormously in raising funds and raising awareness of MS. This will be Cllr Szanto's second term of office as Mayor and he explained that he chose us for a number of reasons - one being that his father had MS. He added:

"I have always been impressed by the dedication to the MS cause shown by chairman Bernard Curtis and secretary Margaret Barrett, together with the many other volunteers who give their time to help people with the condition."

We have been fortunate that during the past year Margaret and I have already enjoyed the support of the Mayor at some of our events and he has shown a great deal of interest in our work. As his chosen charity we will really be able to raise the profile of our Centre and of the work carried out by our Community Support Team.

Bernard Curtis (Chairman)

Congratulations to our Vice-Chairman Ian Westgate on being given the 2009 Eastbourne Achievers Award for 'Supporting those with Disabilities'. Really well deserved. Ian is not only our Vice-Chair, he is also Chairman of the Eastbourne Access Group and a leading member of the Disability Involvement Group (DIG) working with the Borough Council. Ian is also dedicated to improving the parking situation in our town for disabled folk - and not forgetting that he writes the information pages for 'Mainstream' every month!

"I am personally delighted that Ian has received this recognition as I am aware of the amount of hours he puts in every week on behalf of the disabled folk in our community. He is a true champion of the disabled and I have the honour of working with him on many projects. His dedication is an example to all of us and we are all very proud of him".

Bernard Curtis (Chairman)