Saintfield Ceilidh

Donald Cairnduff, Philip Cairnduff, with the Alastair Scott Ceilidh Band. Front is Emma Welch, promoting Organ Donation

Thanks to the organisers of the HARFEST Music Festival in Saintfield for choosing the RVH Liver Support Group as beneficiaries of their fundraising ceilidh in Second Saintfield Presbyterian Church hall on Saturday 24^th October.

As well as raising funds for the Group and awareness of its work, the evening celebrated the achievements of Northern Ireland athletes in the recent World Transplant games in Argentina.  Kathryn Glover and Philip Cairnduff represented these athletes and sharedstories of how the gift of life has given them the energy and motivation they need to succeed as transplant athletes at the very highest level.

Claire McAteer and Julie Gowdy at the Ceilidh

 

A very wide range of ages, rhythmical awareness and physical co-ordination took to the floor.  Music was provided by the Alastair Scott Ceilidh band.  It was a hugely enjoyable evening which brought in £360 for the work of the Group.

I want you all to know that Lucia Quinney-Mee and a small group from Ballycastle have launched a Facebook page today to coincide with the start of Transplant Week. They will use the page to promote Organ Donation.

Please visit and ‘Like’ the page to support Lucia and her friends.

Tullylagan Fundraising

The Tullylagan Vintage Owners’ Association continues to work hard raising funds for the RVH Liver Support Group, their chosen charity of the year.

A street collection on the day of their tractor Push in Cookstown of Friday 5^th June brought in a remarkable £ 2,600.  Thanks to all who helped with the collection, especially those who travelled down.

On Saturday 13^th June the Association held its annual family fun day at Loughry College.  The day was a great success, with musical groups, Irish dancing, animal displays, vintage cars and a parade of vintage and classic tractors.  This event will have generated a significant sum for the Group and again we are indebted to the Association for their interest in our work and their efforts on our behalf.

L to R Donald Cairnduff, Wendy Howe, Kay Duffy and Jennifer Cairnduff.

 

 

Kay Duffy, Jennifer Cairnduff, Donald Cairnduff and Wendy Howe helped with catering throughout the day and took the opportunity to wear  the RVH Liver Support Group’s new polo shirts, which carry a rebranded logo indicating that we offer support to all with liver disease and their families and carers across Northern Ireland.

 

 

Members and guests had a very enjoyable day at the Seagoe hotel on Sunday afternoon, 31 May. It is a great annual opportunity for members to renew acquaintances and very meaningful conversations take place between those who have came through tough times, or have helped others close to them through tough times.

Here are some of the photos taken on the day of the event.

Joan and John Gowdy present a cheque to chairman Donald Cairnduff on behalf of Patrick and Joanne Moore.

Additional support for rebranding and help desk

L to R Robin Frew, Gloria Fletcher, Daniel Fletcher, Kay Duffy, Jean Frew and Jack Frew

Following on from the generosity of Killowen Contacts  in supplying our help desk desk in Outpatients to support our work, we are happy to report that Frew Business Machines have now donated our leaflet holders AND gave us a very generous cash donation of £1,000.

It is seldom that I single out any committee members but the whole idea of a help desk in Outpatients was the brainchild of our founder Kay Duffy. Kay has worked tirelessly on this and has delivered it all with no cost to the group.

We wish to acknowledge this never ending level of support that the RVH Liver Support Group is so lucky to receive from so many people.

Founder Kay Duffy receives the cheque from Gloria and Daniel Fletcher

The All Party Group on Organ Donation in the Stormont Assembly works to keep MLAs informed of  developments in Organ Donation as they affect people within Northern Ireland.  Chaired by Mrs. Jo-Anne Dobson, MLA for Upper Bann, it meets roughly three times per year and has heard from representatives of a number of charities working to promote organ donation, including the RVH Liver Support Group in November 2014.

The All Party Group hosted a Platform Event at Stormont in the early afternoon of April 20^th.  The purpose of the event was to better inform MLAs of the work of the various charities and the experiences of transplant patients and their carers.  Mrs. Dobson and her Vice-Chair on the All Party Group Mr. Pat Ramsey formally opened proceedings at 12noon.  After that it was up to representatives of the charities to get talking to those MLAs who dropped by.

Representatives from our Support Group with Mitchel McLaughlin, Speaker of the NI Assembly

The RVH Liver Support Group was represented by five of its members – Donald Cairnduff, Gordon Cave, Eileen Hearst, Gareth Hunter and Sharon Millen.  During the two hours at Stormont we were able to share personal stories, to outline the impact on patients of travelling to England for transplant surgery and to showcase recent developments in our work  – the Helpdesk in Outpatients; plans for outreach meetings in different areas of Northern Ireland.

We had the chance to speak at some length to the following MLAs: Mr. Steven Agnew; Mr. Sammy Douglas; Mr. Mark Durkan (Minister for the Environment); Dr. Alasdair McDonnell; Mr. Michael McGimpsey; Mr. Mitchel McLaughlin (Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly) and Mr. Pat Ramsey.

The group members with Joanne Dobson and Pat Ramsey, Chair and Vice-chair of the All Party Group

 

It was a most rewarding day.  We left sensing that we had done a good deal to make our work better known at the heart of local government.  Sincere thanks for our invitation go to all on the APG, particularly to Mrs. Dobson and Mr. Ramsey.

AGM 2015

The 17^th AGM of the RVH Liver Support group was held in the Sir Samuel Irwin Lecture Theatre on Thursday 16^th April.  Guest speaker was Professor Nigel Heaton, Director of Transplant Surgery at King’s College Hospital.  60 members and friends of the group were present.

The formal business came first.  The minute of the 2014 AGM and the accounts for the year 2014-15 were approved.  In his Chairman’s Report Donald Cairnduff reflected on a pleasing year’s work, which included a successful first Love Your Liver Campaign in Northern Ireland, registration with the Charity Commission, rebranding to better emphasise the group’s work across Northern Ireland, increased income from fundraising and continued promotion of the organ donor register.  Of particular note were a significant rise in patient care support payments and the setting up of a Helpdesk in Outpatients, which had been opened earlier in the day by the Group’s founder, Kay Duffy.

The full report can be found on this site under ‘From the Chairman’

Dr. Cash conducted the meeting while the committee stood down.  It was re-elected en bloc to serve for 2015 -16: Donald Cairnduff (Chairman); Sharon Millen (Vice Chair); Gordon Cave (President); Kay Duffy (Founder); Eileen Hearst (Secretary); Tom McCready (Treasurer); Jennifer Cairnduff;  Seamus Cunningham;  Rachel Quinney-Mee; and Anya Toner.

Professor Nigel Heaton, special guest at our AGM

Professor Heaton then delivered a fascinating account of the history of liver transplantation in the U.K., current developments and his vision of its future. Of particular concern to  hepatologists at present was the increasing number of young women with liver disease and the mental health and well being of transplant recipients.  Some pleasing outcomes for surgeons were a reduction in the average time of operations (now 3.4 hours); the routine use of split livers, and an increase in the number of living donors, some of whom had come forward as altruistic donors.

He felt that the treatment and recovery of transplant patients needed a new vocabulary that didn’t use unsettling terms like patient, disease and transplant.  And he looked forward to the day, possibly after his retirement, when a surgeon could design an organ on a 3-D printer last thing at night and print it off first thing in the morning before going into theatre.

 

 

A section of the audience at the AGM

    

    The committee for 2015-2016 with guests    

   

Registration with the CCNI

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland is the independent regulator of Northern Ireland charities.

As you may know, all charities in Northern Ireland over a period of 5 years have to register with the Charity Commission to ensure that their governance is in line with legal requirements.  We were called early in this process and Sharon Millen completed our application over the summer months.  We were informed in early September that the application had been successful and were given a new charity number – NIC100892.  It is good to know that so far this more rigorous scrutiny of charitable work has approved our governance and that, in the eyes of the law, we are focusing exclusively on our stated goals.