Contents:
- Editor's welcome
- Stunning replica of planet Earth comes to Rochdale
- Cycling Without Age: Connecting with the great outdoors
- GEM Appeal funds Tecan machine for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital »
- Keep your festive shopping local this Christmas
- Hairdressing Trend - Smoky Charcoal
- Do you speak ‘Manc’, ‘Lancashire’ or ‘posh’? Findings from largest ever study of Greater Manchester accents and dialects revealed
- New exhibitions at Touchstones explore Rochdale heritage and identities
- Gym owner’s World Record
- Make a difference this Christmas by choosing Fairtrade
- Toad Lane Concerts: Music at Lunchtime
- Busy Beans Coffee celebrates Good Food award
- Russell’s Café moves to Yorkshire Street
- Rochdale Riverside: Award-winning flagship shopping & leisure development transforms town centre
- Little Amal visits Rochdale
- Barton Kendal wins The British Property Lettings Award for Rochdale
- Step-by-step guide to buying a new house
- Rochdale powerlifter wins bronze at International World Championships
- Chocolate Orange Yule Log recipe
- Beauty Feature: Skin supplements; working from the inside out
- Independent optician Stephen Holt celebrates 50 years of business
- Beware the coming winter of discontent
Winter 2021GEM Appeal funds Tecan machine for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital
Because of the money raised by the GEM Appeal, children diagnosed with genetic conditions are living longer, healthier lives.
The GEM Appeal (Genetics. Enzymes. Metabolics.) was founded in 1994 by Rochdale mum Karen Johnson whose sons, Simon and Mikey, were born with Hunter Syndrome – a rare inherited disorder causing abnormalities in organs due to missing or malfunctioning enzymes.
With no cure and no treatment available for the boys at the time, they both tragically lost their lives at 12-years-old, but the GEM Appeal has continued to grow in their memory.
Run entirely by volunteers, the charity has raised over £3 million towards funding research into and finding cures for rare genetic and metabolic disorders through various events.
The charity’s 20th annual ball was held in November, hosted by patron Denise Welch at Manchester’s Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, and founder Karen’s ‘favourite’ annual event, the Strawberry Sparkle ladies’ luncheon was held at Nutters Restaurant in August.
Purchased by the charity at a cost of £128,000, the Tecan machine arrived at the Simon and Mikey Hoather Research Laboratory in the Willink Unit at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital in June.
Now fully operational, the equipment prepares and arranges blood samples for DNA analysis a few days after the birth of a baby, enabling the specialist staff at the unit to concentrate on more complex tasks and enhancing a previous GEM Appeal purchase, the Tandem Mass Spectrometer, which analyses the samples taken.
The Willink Unit is now looking into more equipment they need, ready for the GEM Appeal to set its next fundraising target.