DEDICATED fundraiser Ann Hughes, along with the charity committee of the Aberystwyth branch of Muscular Dystrophy UK, will be closing its doors after 50 years of fundraising alongside the local community.
Ann, 84, was part of the founding committee, which started in 1973 and has been chairwoman for the past 25 years. Ann’s dedication to the cause has been outstanding making the decision to close even more difficult.
Over the years Ann and the committee have helped to raise over £750,000 for the charity. She says: “We’ve had a lot of fun over the years and of course it’s bittersweet that it’s got to come to an end.
“It all started out to raise awareness and unite local families like mine ours affected by muscular dystrophy. It’s humbling that I was given the strength to go out and help people affected by the condition – from sitting in on meetings with social services to arranging theatre shows and doing bucket collections.”
Ann was motivated to set up the branch 50 years ago after her own experience as a mother of four children, all diagnosed with limb girdle muscular dystrophy.
Three of her children lost their fight with the condition and her remaining son is incredibly proud of Ann’s achievements as she aspired to raise awareness and funds for Muscular Dystrophy UK, which funds research into treatments for rare, life-limiting muscle-wasting conditions and supports more than 110,000 adults and children across the UK affected by these conditions.
Ann said: “I was aware of the group of muscular dystrophy conditions, but I didn’t think our children had one. I became concerned when they began missing milestones as babies. The kids couldn’t walk from their teens – they were in wheelchairs by the age of 11. But they led normal lives,”
With the support of individuals from Aberystwyth, Llanon, and even as far as Talybont, the inaugural meeting for the Aberystwyth branch was initially held at Ann and her husband Rheon’s home in Llanon in June 1973. “There were 23 people on the committee back then versus just eight now. We’re all getting older and we’ve had great difficulty finding volunteers to take over – which has been the main reason for us having to make this tough decision.”
Throughout the years, the local community played an instrumental role in fundraising initiatives, which encompassed fashion shows, line dancing, street collections, marathons, house-to-house collections in villages across Ceredigion, barbecues, and theatre performances at the Arts Centre.
The Aberystwyth branch emerged as a prominent force within the community after 1975, when Lord Attenborough, an Oscar-winning film director and actor who served as President of MDUK at the time, visited Aberystwyth to receive a substantial donation of £9,000 from the generous students at Aberystwyth university. Over the years other celebrity faces including actors Andrew Cruickshank, Simon Williams and Wales goalkeeper Dai Davies joined forces with the branch to organise fundraising events in the community.
Ann reminisces: “Rupert the Bear was the charity mascot between 1989 and 2007. We were lucky to have one of the two official costumes for Rupert and it was a big draw. We had people get in touch from all over the world – California, Australia– who asked if we had Rupert bears or badges or keyrings. We used to post them out to them! There were even Rupert the bear days all over town where we’d raise money for the charity.”
In 1980, the branch secured a lease for a small shop on Bath Street, Aberystwyth, which became the focal point of its fundraising endeavours until it closed in 2019. Ann said: “It was a tiny space and we were only supposed to be there for three months but we ended up staying there for more than 30 years. The shop was entirely staffed by dedicated volunteers and members of the branch committee and I’m grateful for their support over the years. We really wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.
“I’m proud of the way we have supported individuals and their families affected by muscular dystrophy. Not only did we engage with them by visiting them and talking to them, but we did a lot of fundraising for vital equipment that they couldn’t afford such as wheelchairs, wheelchair batteries, car adaptations and computers. We funded all that with the help of the community.”
“We even helped people living with muscular dystrophy in the county get into mainstream schools. When our children were little, we had to fight tooth and nail for them to be admitted to these schools – because of their disability it was argued that they couldn’t go. This meant that our eldest son had to go away for school for two years, and another of our children went away for a year.
Ann has expressed her gratitude to past and present committee members, MDUK charity representatives who supported the branch, as well as the local community and various voluntary organisations who contributed to the branch’s fundraising efforts over the years.
“A special thank you goes to the people, both past and present, affected by muscular dystrophy, who were all very grateful for our support. We shall miss them all. It was an honour to know them and support them over the course of many brave years.”
Phil Heighway, Regional Development Manager for South West, West Midlands and Wales at Muscular Dystrophy UK, said: “After an amazing 50 years of service, Ann and the committee are hanging up their fundraising hats – and they should do so with great pride. Their help and support of Muscular Dystrophy UK over the years has been invaluable – not just to their local community but also to us as a now-national charity. We’re pleased to support many of the 110,000 people across the UK living with muscular dystrophy and we couldn’t do it without the selflessness of people like Ann.”
Interested in volunteering for Muscular Dystrophy UK? For more information, visit www.musculardystrophyuk.org
