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East of Scotland Branch of Ataxia UK

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Latest update to home page - 15 November 2011:

• Our next branch meeting will be on Saturday 19 November 2011, followed by a meal at the Polton Inn (nearby and fully accessible). The dates of the next two meetings are 21 January 2012 and 24 March 2012. All our meetings take place at Lasswade High School Sports Centre from 1.30pm - 4pm.
• Report of September 2011 meeting is here
• The secretary has had computer problems (now fixed, I hope) and has a lot of catching up to do!

• Please note that the Treasurer has moved house, so if you are posting membership subs there's a new form here

• After the meeting on Saturday 13 November 2010 we had a meal at the Laird & Dog Inn Lasswade. We're changing the venue this year as this was not fully accessible.
• Eric Pullin is donating profits from his charming children's books the Why Series to Ataxia - contact us through the email link above if you would like to order some - they are £3 each or £15 for the set of five.

• The March meeting was held on Saturday 13 March 2010 - reports from January 2009 - January 2010 here.
• Photos from 2010 meetings (new page) NB page with photos from 2009 is also being prepared.
• Some members met up with the West of Scotland Branch at a joint meeting at the Alona Hotel, Strathclyde Country Park at 1.30pm on Saturday 10 April 2010.
• The Secretary has finally got her act together and you can access the reports of all the 2009 meetings plus January & March 2010 from the Branch Reports page. Photos from these events will follow.

Our recent meetings were (reports on Branch Meetings page):

• Saturday 13 March 2010 - Dr Richard Davenport talked about diagnosing ataxia and Calum Pringle updated us on his project.
• Saturday 23 January 2010 - Calum Pringle told us about his research on developing an aid to help ataxians with their speech.
• Saturday 14 November 2009 - Rhona Brankin MSP gave an interesting talk on equality for all in education.
• Saturday 12 September 2009 - Ronnnie Browne talked about the early days of the Corries, after which we had high tea at the Laird and Dog Inn in Lasswade.
• Saturday 23 May 2009 (the AGM) Susan McVickery gave a demonstration of aromatherapy.
• Saturday 14 March 2009 Mary Prentice told us all about VOCAL (Voices of Carers Across Lothian)
• Saturday 24 January 2009 we had our usual haggis, neeps and tatties.

• If you use a newsreader you can click RSS at the foot of this page to subscribe (copy the url into your feed reader eg Bloglines)

• The Scottish Ataxia Conference took place in Glasgow on Saturday 21 June 2008. It was a shame there was a low attendance but those who were able to go agreed that it was a most interesting and informative day. The conference programme is here.
• Link to a free online book: Diana Kimpton's 'A Special Child in the Family'.
• Introduction by the new Chief Executive of Ataxia UK, Sue Millman on the Head Office news page.
• Ataxia UK have set up discussion forums and are keen to get more participants, especially young people affected by Ataxia - more details on Head Office news page.
• At John Reid's suggestion a 'goods for sale and wanted' page has been added to the site. Email us with details, prices, optional photos and we will advertise them. We suggest that part or all of your profits can be donated to Branch funds.

Ataxia means 'inability to control voluntary movements' and comes from the Greek word meaning 'disorder'. Ataxia is the principal symptom of a group of rare neurological disorders called 'cerebellar ataxias', most of which are progressive. Ataxia UK focuses on these forms of Ataxia, many of which are inherited (source of information, Ataxia UK). Forms of Ataxia include Cerebellar Ataxia (eg spinocerebellar ataxia type 8 - SCA 8) and Friedreich's Ataxia. To date, about 30 forms of SCA have been identified and research is ongoing. The Living with Ataxia page has many links to information about Ataxia.

The East of Scotland Branch (formerly the Edinburgh and Lothians Branch) was founded by Andrea Bothwell in 1995 and has about seventy members. It's our 15th anniversary in 2010! We offer regular meetings, support, companionship, advice and help to people with Ataxia, their families and friends. Many people, when newly diagnosed, don't know where to turn: we can provide a helping hand and the benefit of experience: many of our members have lived with Ataxia for up to 50 years. Send us an e mail and we can add you to our mailing list.

The UK national body, a registered charity, Ataxia UK produces a regular magazine for members, an annual conference and helpful leaflets for Ataxia sufferers, plus more technical ones for doctors. Because these conditions are so rare, many GPs don't know much about them - it's not unusual for the person with Ataxia to be the one teaching their doctor! We encourage all our members to become a friend of Ataxia UK.

You will find that this website contains lots of useful advice and information. If you find the print too small or too large, you can change the text size using the View Menu on your browser. Almost all the links in this website open in the same window, just press the 'Back' button to return.

This page was last updated on November 15, 2011

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