MS Research and Relief Fund

MS is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. It can affect mobility, memory, independence and can cause numbness, fatigue, and pain. This disease is unpredictable and varies from one person to another.

It’s not just the person diagnosed with MS whom is impacted by the condition – the lives of partners and other family members are also affected. Our aim is to support those affected with MS and their primary carers, ensuring that the support offered is appropriate and relevant to any person affected, from early diagnosis onwards.

MSRRF is based at Benmar House in Morpeth, Northumberland, where complementary therapies and exercise sessions are offered six days a week. However, the charity also facilitates Outreach provisions across the North East, ranging from Durham all the way up to Berwick-upon-Tweed, allowing even more people affected by MS to benefit from the services provided.

Did you know...

• MS is an incurable condition, but it can be managed through exercise and therapy. The services that MSRRF undertakes work to allieviate the symptoms of MS and allow long-term benefit to people affected by the condition

• MSRRF also provides free complementary therapies and exercise sessions to the primary carers of people with MS. These sessions are soon to include new spin classes, which will allow people with MS to use special assisted-cycle bikes to train alongside their carer in a fun new initiative.

What makes MSSRF different

MSRRF facilitate a number of services, free of charge, for people affected by MS throughout the UK. In addition to its National Grant Funding, the charity provides a number of services at Benmar House in Morpeth and at various Outreach centres in the North East of England.

Complementary Therapies for people with MS and their primary carers are usually fully booked well in advance. MSRRF’s Gym is fully accessible with Service Users enjoying personalised, one to one Exercise Sessions in a friendly environment.

In addition to the services provided at Benmar House, MSRRF also works in partnership with organisations to provide Outreach provisions at centres across the North East. These provisions allow us to bring the services we offer to people affected by MS who may otherwise be unable to benefit from them.

Following consultation with people affected by Multiple Sclerosis and generous funding from Trusts and Corporate Foundations, MSRRF launched a new and highly anticipated Mindfulness service for Carers of people with Multiple Sclerosis in 2017. These sessions allowed participants to focus on the present, rather than worrying about the past and future.

Further generous funding has also seen the reintroduction of art classes into the Benmar House programme of services. MSRRF have recruited a specialist art tutor to facilitate and teach the regular Service User art group which meets every two weeks.

In addition to the services detailed above, MSRRF work in partnership with an MS Specialist Nurse and a Continence Specialist Nurse who attend Benmar House once per month to meet people with MS, confidentially by appointment. This is a vital service that the charity offers, as many people affected by MS do not have access to a health professional who specialises in the condition.

Other ways to support

Supporters can spread the word about our work to increase our brand visibility and knowledge about the quality and quantity of work that we do. The promotion via word of mouth and/or social media can also greatly benefit the charity.

The charity is always looking for volunteers who can help events to run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. We are very grateful to all of our outstanding volunteers, who help provide a warm reception to all event participants and really encapsulate the close-knit, friendly nature of the charity.

We are always looking for people to get their place of business involved in fundraising and support for us – i.e. through initiatives such as charity of the year partnerships. These initiatives are invaluable to us as a charity and provide us with great benefits, such as finding new participants for upcoming fundraising events or office volunteering schemes (which in the past has included things like painting fences at our main centre and joining our cheer station at the Great North Run)