Riding On Report Spring 2019

We wish to acknowledge the following donations that have been received since the last published list in the winter edition 2019 of the club journal Riding On.

We also wish to acknowledge the generous support of the club branches throughout Australia that keeps the UCARF cause alive and kicking.

In no particular order –

Mid North Coast Branch $500.00, Northern Beaches Branch $1,000.00, Gloria Gorman $50.00. Northern Gateway Branch $139.65, Davis Scott $200.00, Goulburn Valley Branch $745.82, Lower Murray Branch $1,000.00, Bairnsdale Branch $300.00, Warwick District Branch $345.00, Mildura Branch $1,000. Redlands Branch $455.00.

It is always interesting to learn of the ways the various branches and individuals raise funds for donation to UCARF. We are receptive to these stories.

The Mid North Coast Branch raised their donation through a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle. Member Gloria Gorman has been hand-knitting beanies of which she sold five to members at a recent Nepean branch meeting and promptly handed the cash donation to UCARF. “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give,” Winston Churchill.

As the UCARF Coordinator I arranged a recent visit for the NatCom members to attend the Sutton Arthritis Research Laboratory of the Institute of Bone and Joint Research (IBJR) Kolling Institute. We were hosted by Professor Chris Jackson, Director of Science and Medicine, IBJR, Deputy Director, Associate Professor Meilang Xue and Dr Haiyan Lin who is our current UCARF sponsored RA researcher.

The NatCom members were treated to three brief lectures, a big Friday afternoon tea, an opportunity to meet the scientists and a guided tour of the workings of the laboratory. Four of the current seven committee members had not had a previous opportunity to experience first-hand these aspects of the scientific research that we support. As the coordinator I consider this interaction important as a creation of a much better understanding of RA research.

For the information of members, I wish to refer to the accompanying graph which reveals the hugely disproportionate level of Commonwealth funding for arthritis research in comparison to other common diseases. Life begins at 40, but also too often does arthritis.

Kim Kennerson
UCARF Coordinator,

#6929 L.M. 14.