Students raise £9,050 for worthy cause

RIPON Grammar School students have raised more than £9,000 to help support those living with a disease which has touched the lives of many in their school community.

The school’s annual Charity Week saw pupils plan and run a range of activities including games stalls, quizzes, dance competitions, a fashion show, staff pantomime, bake sales and sports challenges to raise money and awareness for Parkinson’s UK.

The organising team proudly presented their impressive fundraising total of £9,050 to Ailsa Dragan, community fundraiser for Parkinson’s UK, at a special school assembly.

Students including head girl Zara Ali, who nominated the charity to be the beneficiary of this year’s fundraising, told how supporting Parkinson’s UK was especially meaningful because the condition had affected members of the school community and their families.

Ms Dragan told the students: “Between you, you’ve raised over £9,000, it’s obviously an incredible amount of money and we’re going to make sure it’s put to good use, towards supporting people to live well with Parkinson’s here and now, through things like our Parkinson’s local advisors and helpline and also researching for those better treatments and that cure.”

“A massive thank you from myself and the whole of the Parkinson’s community to everybody from Ripon Grammar School."

Zara, whose grandmother Janie sadly died after suffering complications from Parkinson’s disease, said: “I am excited to know our donations will help fund pioneering research projects, so that new treatments can be developed and future generations do not need to face the same challenges that we do now.”

She thanked all those who had supported this very important cause, and said that students were delighted their fundraising would help support sufferers of one of the fastest-growing progressive neurological conditions in the world and their families, in addition to giving vital medical research projects a boost.

“We feel it’s a very important charity as the disease is on the rise in the UK with around 166,000 people living with it, and someone new being diagnosed every 20 minutes,” said Zara.

“This is why it is vital that more people are educated about Parkinson's, as raising awareness allows those affected to receive the support they need.”