Hi everyone, I’m Ruth, and I recently started a new role at the MS Society as Virtual Communities Manager.

My work has always been rooted in the belief that “we are free to change the world” — a reminder that people, when connected and supported, can create extraordinary change together.

That belief has shaped my entire career in volunteering, peer support and community powered services.

We’re currently recruiting new members for our Equity, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EEDI) Reference Group.

The EEDI Reference Group is a group of people affected by MS (including friends and family) who helped develop our previous EEDI strategy and now support the EEDI work in our more recent organisational strategy. They bring lived experience of marginalisation, for example people from minoritised ethnic groups, the LGBTQ+ community, carers and disabled people.

It’s now nearly time to give access to Assemble (our new volunteer management system) to the rest of our volunteers.

All volunteers in our ‘priority groups’ - those that actively provide services and/or are recruiting new volunteers, along with Trustees and Council Chairs – now have access to Assemble.

Next in line are remaining group volunteers and those of you who are not part of a local group.

We’re pleased to introduce our Risk management for volunteers e-learning course (formerly known as Health and safety for Group Volunteers), designed to give the latest guidance and practical knowledge to support you in your role with the MS Society.

Keeping everyone safe is a shared responsibility, and this refreshed course will help you feel confident in managing risks and responding to health and safety incidents while volunteering. The course covers:

• The importance and responsibilities of their role.

MS Awareness Week is coming up soon. From 20 – 26 April, we’ll be teaming up with our friends at MS Together, MS Trust, MS-UK, Overcoming MS, Neuro Therapy Networks, Shift.ms and Talks with MS to launch a brand new campaign, MS Think Again.

Lots of people think they know what MS is, but you told us that the condition is often misunderstood. MS Think Again is all about challenging MS assumptions, misconceptions and negative judgements, and the harm these cause - from being underestimated at work to being harassed for using an accessible parking space.

With elections approaching in Wales and Scotland, we’re making sure that candidates hear the reality of living with MS before they take office and MS is on their agenda.

This May we have the opportunity to build a fairer, healthier future for people living with MS.

From long waits for specialists and a lack of mental health support to financial strain from extra costs, people with MS are being left behind. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

MS Walks are growing year on year, and 2026 is set to be our biggest and most inspiring yet. Every event is an opportunity to bring people together, build connections and raise essential funds to stop MS for good. This is your chance to be part of something truly meaningful - and to help make a real difference in people’s lives.

Today we’ve launched MS Help: a new, simpler way for people affected by MS to find support.

MS Help is the name we’re now using for all the services and support we offer. It brings together our national, digital and local services so they feel more connected and easier to access.

At the centre of MS Help is the MS Help Hub, a single starting point for the support that we offer to the MS community.

We’ve launched MS Help: a new, simpler way for people affected by MS to find support. Find out what resources are available to help you communicate about it.

MS Help is the name we’re now using for all the services and support we offer. It brings together our national, digital and local services so they feel more connected and easier to access.

We’ve identified an issue with how group contact permissions have been recorded. As a precaution, we’ve temporarily paused sharing contact data with groups while we resolve this.

We want to reassure you that there has been no compromise of anyone’s personal information. This is a process issue relating to how permissions have been captured, and we’re working to put this right as quickly as possible.