At our first full meeting since March 2020, held on 1st September in church, we were given a very informative and interesting talk by David Brocklehurst on Medical Detection Dogs. He was accompanied by his dog, Alice, who is not a qualified detection dog, but who is approved to work as an ambassador for the organisation, a job which she obviously fulfils admirably.
David explained about how the charity started and how the dogs are trained and used to trace such health problems as cancers. Dogs can also be used as assistance for people with extreme medical conditions, especially with diabetes. As a result of their work serious illnesses can be detected earlier, making it easier to treat patients and thereby saving suffering, time and money. More recently their research team has been working towards a means of using the dogs to detect Covid-19, which could be extremely useful to check on travellers arriving at ports and airports, so a most welcome addition to their scope. The charity is funded almost entirely from donations, although there has been a small contribution from the government relating to the Covid-19 research.
With the donation from the group and generous voluntary contributions via a collection box the encouraging sum of £100-50 was raised for the charity during the evening.
Further information can be obtained on the website: www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, 6th October, at 7pm, when member Yvonne Townsend will give an illustrated talk on Australia, where she has visited several times. At present the Parish Room is still not available, so we are again holding the meeting in church, where we are asked to continue to follow the Covid related rules.
Please contact me if you have any queries or suggestions.
TrIsh Law Committee Member
Tel: 450407