This year, I am supporting the charity BEAT -
The UK's Leading eating disorder charity.  I have a personal reason for this choice, my own daughter Helen is a recovering Anorexic. I had no idea at the start of her illness how it would grip our whole families lives and dominate our time and energy.

I guess that people who know nothing about eating disorders feel that sufferers are just trying to find ways of getting attention and really the person could just eat something if they really wanted to - well let me tell you, they most certainly are not. I suppose the easiest way to describe Anorexia Nervosa is imagine that you are scared of food and the mere thought of it made you feel sick to the stomach? It seems impossible doesn't it? Well there are plenty of people out there who are scared of spiders, daddy long legs, worms and moths - all of which are perfectly harmless, but they make your skin crawl and there is no way you would want to hold one, let alone eat one! Then imagine there was a voice
inside your head telling you that you were disgusting to look at, that you were fat and everyone was looking at you, watching you and judging you every minute of the day. This is how it is every waking minute of the day for Anorexics. It has taken over two years for my daughter to begin the long road to recovery and she has been helped all along the way by the staff at C.H.E.D.S (Cheshire eating disorders service) You never fully recover from an eating disorder, you just learn how to manage the condition and hope that you stay well. Of all the mental health disorders, Anorexia is the only one that will KILL you if left untreated.

So please help me to raise much needed funds to support Beat, the UK's eating disorder charity. Beat supports anyone with an eating disorder, their friends and family, as well as professionals working with or worried about an individual in their care.  These serious mental illnesses include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. 725,000 people in the UK have a diagnosed eating disorder. They affect people of all ages and backgrounds, and up to one in four sufferers are male. Eating disorders cost the UK's economy £16.8 billion each year.

So please give generously, please register to donate, it is free and you won't get inundated with junk mail.  If you are working, then please tick the Gift Aid box so we can reclaim the tax paid on your donation. 

Many thanks

Councillor Peter Rooney, Mayor of Ellesmere Port