We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has raised money for NN since we started in 1984. Fund-raising is a vital source of income for us - without the money you raise, we could not help the thousands of people we do every year. For many, fund-raising means getting fit. But you can have fun too as some of the following imaginative examples from our past show.

Autumn 2011 thanks

The Dudley family
Max Jones
Owen Jesseman

So many people to thank this time, the fairest way is alphabetical order. Carol Horth added to her fundraising tally for NN with £500 from Coutts Bank. The Dudley family (Andy, Jill, Emma and Rob) and Chris Gray raised over £2,200 in the BUPA Great North Run on September 18.

Max Jones completed the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London on October 9, raising over £800 for NN and Opportunity International, which his employer Lloyds Bank will match. Another Lloyds TSB employee Owen Jesseman raised £392 by completing the 3 Peaks Challenge (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden) in just under 22 hours. Sofie Haidon ran the Plymouth 10k on November 6. Trevor East's colleagues at Steria in Chesterfield sent a second £500 cheque after nominating NN their charity of the year.

Looking ahead to January 2012, Leicester researcher Viral Sheth is off to climb Kilimanjaro. Viral knows tackling the world's highest free-standing mountain (5895m) won't be easy and "won't be able to shower for at least a week. I'll be living off cold baked beans and tins of sweetcorn. It would mean so much to me to have your support every step of the journey." You can support Viral at http://www.justgiving.com/viral-sheth

Mark Kirkham, whose son James has nystagmus and Chromosome 18 Distal Deletion Syndrome, has launched into a breathtaking round of events for NN and 18q. His most ambitious target comes in June with The Wall Run – all 69 miles of Hadrian's Wall from Carlisle to Gateshead. "The longest I have run to date is 13.1 miles so this is no little challenge," says Mark, a master of understatement. See his websites at http://kirkysprogress.wordpress.com/ http://www.thewallrun.com/index.html and http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/kirky.

Finally Rachel Medich, whose father and son have nystagmus, is using her love of rally driving to support NN. You can follow Rachel and co-driver Katherine's exploits at http://www.rally2raise.co.uk/ and support them at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=rally2raise

2011 runners

Melissa Talbot with son Harley
Lindsey Stopp
Jamie, Amadea and Laurence
Ash Merritt
Charlie Griffiths
Jen and team on top of the world
Jack and Margaret
Benjamin and sister Issie
Eleanor, Jessica and Katie

Melissa Talbot (pictured with son Harley who has nystagmus) is running for NN in the BUPA Great Manchester Run on May 15 with a target of £1,500. You can support Melissa at http://www.justgiving.com/Melissa-Talbot.

Lindsey Stopp completed two events for NN in 2010 and in April this year achieved her ambition of running the London Marathon raising over £2,000 in the process. "It was a really hot day, which made it much more difficult, but amazing, nonetheless. It was the most amazing experience and I'm so happy I can raise money for you," said Lindsey, who completed the course in an impressive 4 hours 14 minutes. Brilliant! Well done Lindsey!

adidas half marathon
John Lilleystone raised £500 by running the adidas Silverstone Half Marathon on March 6th. John's eight year old daughter has nystagmus, but the family knew very little about the condition when she was diagnosed. "We joined the Nystagmus Network to help us understand more about the condition and also to draw on other people's experiences."

Summer stars and autumn runners
A big thank you once again to Melissa Talbot and the people of Manchester. Melissa completed the BUPA Great Manchester Run for NN in May and has now helped to raise a further £820 for NN from her employer, Star Perfumes, and from son Harley's nursery children4most nursery. We are very grateful to both Star and children4most in Audenshaw.

We now have a page on Virgin Money Giving (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/) and search nystagmus under 'find a charity' and our first three runners using Virgin. Adam Phote is taking part in Run to the Beat, London's music half marathon, on September 25. Max Jones (brother of NN committee member Sam) is running in the Royal Parks Half Marathon on October 9 in London and Sofie Haidon is tackling the Plymouth 10k on November 6.

The Dudley family (Andy, Jill, Emma and Rob) and Chris Gray are running the BUPA Great North Run for NN on September 18. Mum Jill said: "We do remember the help your information gave us when Rob was diagnosed. He is now coming up 21 and manages well, but like others is unable to drive. However, with someone watching for his ball he can play a good round of golf!!" You can support the Dudleys at http://www.justgiving.com/dudleyfamily. Finally, Mark Kirkham, whose son James has nystagmus and Chromosome 18 Distal Deletion Syndrome, plans to raise funds for us. See his website at http://kirkysprogress.wordpress.com/.

Merci beaucoup!

Jamie Griffiths – whose nine year old daughter Charlie (pictured) has nystagmus – and colleagues Laurence Borde, Amadea Choplin and Max Khindria ran the Paris Marathon for us on April 10 and raised a fantastic total of £7,500. Merveilleux! Incroyable! We're very grateful to Jamie and team. Afterwards Jamie said: "If someone had told me I would run my first marathon in 27 C and glaring sunshine I would say they were mad. Well it was and it was somewhat different from my training runs through the Hampshire countryside in freezing conditions. It was so hot the organisers had arranged the Paris fire brigade to station themselves along the route and use the water cannons to cool us down. It was a stunning course looping through central Paris twice. I was running to schedule up to the 25km (16mile) mark heading for a 4.15 hr Marathon however the sun, the wall, cramps got the worse of me so I managed to complete it in 4.53. The whole event was one great experience. I am now nicely sunburnt and stiff as a board."

Incredibly informative

Peter Greenwood and Ash Merritt are running the BUPA London 10k for us on May 30. Peter says: "We joined NN last year after seeing a flyer in our local eye hospital (Kingston upon Thames). My wife and I have two amazing boys who both have nystagmus. The information and support we've received through NN in such a short period of time has been incredibly useful & informative as we continue to understand & help our 2 boys develop. We also attended the Open Day in Birmingham last year and it has been (in over 5 years) the first time we've been able to really sit down with other people who have nystagmus or parents of children who have nystagmus - again, incredibly informative."

Ash (pictured) says: "Growing up with my vision has been very challenging, especially through education (with the anguish of PE) and as a teenager – always wanting to just be "normal". Now, at 29, I live and work in IT in London and, despite my loathing of all exercise at school, I enjoy regular running; I can't think of a better opportunity to combine something I enjoy with raising money for such a brilliant and worthy charity."

Garden party, silence and bonus ball

It's fantastic when people raise big sums for NN (see above), but the steady flow from smaller donations and imaginative events is vital too. Katie (who has nystagmus) and neighbours Jessica and Eleanor took advantage of the fine April weather and raised over £50 from a garden sale. The girls sold home-made paintings, freshly made lemonade and chocolate cookies and told fortunes. They then doubled their takings with some hard graft scrubbing a patio!

Another Katie (Hodgett, aged 13) raised £88 from a sponsored silence. After the 24 hours was up, Katie said: "This was a challenge for me, but I enjoyed doing it. I would like to do something like this again to raise some more money for the Nystagmus Network in the hope that it can help change people's lives who suffer from the same problem as me."

Regular giving is so important too as the Brombacks in Hampshire proved once again when they sent us a cheque for over £3,000, mostly raised from a Bonus Ball Lottery they run every month. Thank you Joy, Kevin, Katie and Marc.

Joshua and Jack

We're always grateful to people who go the extra mile to help people with nystagmus. Some people including mum Jen Bacon went a lot more than a mile to help her son Joshua. In challenging weather - well it was August -- they trekked to the top of Mount Snowdon (1,085 metres/3,560 feet above sea level) and raised over £2,000.

As Jen says: "Sunday was horrible weather going up Snowdon as it was so cold, rainy and gale force winds which was slightly scary. But I'm so proud to say we all did it. We were lucky as the rain stopped and the clouds parted at the top so we could appreciate the gorgeous scenery. Despite the weather we all had a great time and everyone was in high spirits."

Causes For Celebration

You don't have to leave home to raise money for NN. Over in Northampton young Jack's great grandmother Mrs Margaret Dorr celebrated her 80th birthday this summer and asked for donations to NN instead of presents. Altogether family and friends raised an incredible £500 - so thank you to everyone who gave so generously.

Liverpool couple Mr and Mrs Hart chose NN as one of two charities to benefit on their Golden Wedding anniversary in September and sent us cheques totalling £550. Grandson Benjamin (see picture) has nystagmus and danced the night away until the early hours of the morning.

Corporate support

Many employers have donated generously or matched money raised by their employees for NN. Among the big givers over the years are Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Marks & Spencer, Reuters and Swiss Re.

Lotteries

Small-scale, regular giving helps us too and soon mounts up. The Bromback family has raised over £12,000 for NN from running a Bonus Ball Lottery. You can also join the NN Weather Lottery at http://nystagmusnet.co.uk/Fund2.htm

GiftAid your donations

UK taxpayers can download a GiftAid form to increase donations to NN.

Please contact john.sanders@nystagmusnet.org for information on how NN can support your fund-raising activities.