Fundraising bash 10th December, Barton Village Hall, Barton under Needwood. £25 entry includes 2 live bands and pig roast. Very low priced beer and wine at the Bar. Bring as many friends as you can. 

Some months ago, while Derek and Andy were taking a trip on their motorcycles (much to the delight of their life insurance companies), they decided that they would participate in an expedition to raise money to benefit the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

The causes of Alzheimer's are not yet fully understood, and more research is urgently needed to increase understanding, since this knowledge offers the best chance to develop ways of halting or preventing the condition.

This is a truly devastating illness - not only for the sufferer - but for the friends and family who have to stand helplessly by as it ravages the minds of the people they care about most.

Derek and Andy decided they wanted to do something to help.

They got a bit of a shock when they signed up for a Vietnam Ride in February 2011, as it turns out that they have to cycle (no motors here gentlemen) 550km (about 350 miles) in 8 days. Iron lungs and defibrillator's at the ready please...

They will have to cycle through jungles and over mountains, and I think it's safe to say that they have both upped their training schedules and religious entreaties. 

Derek and Andy also have to raise the money for the donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust by December 12th, 2010.

Please, dig deep or dig shallow - just dig - to help them raise the money to enable further research into this emotionally and mentally crippling illness. 

Help these crazy bastards reach their financial goal to enable investigation that could help prevent your own friends and family from ever having to suffer from Alzheimer's.

All of us think about doing something for charity, and then something comes up in our own lives and we forget about it. Derek and Andy are actually doing something. A couple of quid will go a long way to helping them achieve their goal. We can all afford a couple of quid, if only to make us feel like we have done something to help vital research and our friends and family.

Thank you for reading, and for your compassion.