Parkinson’s patients raise money for Eastbourne charity with sponsored read

Inspired by 101 year old Peter Valentine’s walking to raise money for Friends of Eastbourne Hospital, the members of the Parkinson’s group wanted to ‘do their bit to contribute to the same cause’.

Valerie Smith, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, supported the patients on the day.

“I was impressed by the group’s initiative to take part in a sponsored event,” she said.

“We wanted to support them to do something challenging but achievable, that was related to Speech and Language Therapy. My colleague Claire Bardo, Speech and Language Therapist, came up with the idea of a sponsored read and the group felt this would work well for them.

"I am really proud of them for taking part and persevering, particularly as reading aloud for extended periods of time can be extremely tiring for people with Parkinson’s.

“It can be difficult to maintain the motivation to do daily exercises long term.

"Hopefully this brilliant achievement will give them a boost to keep going.”

Participating members said: “I wouldn’t have managed the sponsored read without the course and exercises given by the speech and language therapists. You wouldn’t have understood me.”

“All the clinicians are ultra-professional and no activity is repeated from one week to the next.

Harry Walmsley, Chair of Friends of Eastbourne Hospital, said: “The Parkinson’s group has raised a fabulous amount and the Friends are very grateful to them.

"Peter is an incredible man and he will be delighted to know that his reach has extended to the group and that his efforts were the catalyst for the challenge they undertook. It is wonderful that we can all inspire each other in our fundraising efforts.”