TEN YEARS AND CLIMBING

Anthony Kilmister looks at our first ten years.

A tenth anniversary is a proud moment and a milestone in the history of any organisation.  In marking it we have been particularly fortunate in being granted Royal Patronage.  It would be hard to imagine a more proactive Patron than Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester who has supported us here at home and has been an ambassador for our cause overseas.

Reviewing the achievements in our first decade is quite a task for there have been so many moments of note.  I suppose the fact that we have been able to award research grants of £1.2 million in recent years will rank highest in our thinking.  Other memorable events that have built the morale of all supporters have included major successes in the London Marathon, when ever growing sponsorship was raised year by year and on one such occasion in 2002, Professor Roger Kirby and his team raised no less than £170,000.  Always on the lookout for ways to beat previous targets, Professor Kirby and colleagues climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in 2003 and in the process brought in sponsorship for this one climb of no less than £287,000.  These achievements have been chronicled in the pages of our eagerly awaited, regular newsletter UPDATE and elsewhere.  The current and previous issues of UPDATE are available for viewing on this Website.  UPDATE as a Newsletter is in itself a major achievement, edited time and again since September 1998 by Richard Killick.

Other publications too have been increasingly valuable in our provision of information of interest and value to patients and families alike.  In our early years Fact Sheets were produced as a means of imparting help and advice on all forms of prostate disease whether benign or malignant.  These were followed in 1996 by the publication of a 24 page booklet entitled Prostate Problems: The Facts.  This booklet was the forerunner of the much larger, later book The Prostate: small gland, big problem first published in 2000, which went into a second, enlarged edition in 2002  -  winning a BMA commendation in the process.  The latter publications have benefited from the expertise of Sarah Redston and the Health Press of Abingdon in Oxfordshire.  Dr Thomas Stuttaford OBE has also wielded his pen to great effect in this field.

Our Website has undergone a transformation thanks to immensely hard work by Tony Wicks.  A support team consisting of Jim Cable, Richard Killick, Janis Olohan, John Anderson and myself have sought to provide encouragement and practical help.

The Annual Luncheon we hold at the Savoy Hotel is an October event each year and is always enjoyed hugely.  Great credit must go to my wife Sheila for her part in this and indeed for her towering support of so many aspects of our affairs over the whole decade.  Roy Kendrick, Donald du Parc Braham, Brian Barnes, Jennifer Sheldon and a host of others have played conspicuous parts in promoting the Luncheon which goes from success to success each year.

Many enthusiasts have mounted memorable events at varying times during this decade and the sight of a candlelit Wells Cathedral for a performance of Handel's Messiah last Christmas was a case in point.

All this is a far cry from the pioneering days early in 1993 when I first obtained the help and support of Neil O'Donoghue - a highly respected and eminent urologist.  Later that same month Roger Kirby brought his flair to bear and became Chairman.  After considerable spadework the Trust Deed bringing Prostate Research Campaign UK into being was duly stamped bearing the date 28th February 1994.  The Charity Commission gave their consent to the governing instrument and granted Prostate Research Campaign UK charity status as a registered charity on 27th April 1994.

Much has been achieved since those magical moments of yesteryear but so much more remains to be done.  All visitors to this site are urged to give their support so that prostate problems - for so long a Cinderella subject - can one day become things of the past.  For many men and their families that day cannot come too soon.