We’re in the spring phase of our ambitious Stop MS Appeal to raise £100 million. We’ve been focusing on the impact research can have on those living with MS and the hope that it offers.





And the research we fund has very much been in the spotlight in the past week or so. Because our revolutionary clinical trial Octopus has started recruitment at its first hospital site in London. This means the first few people with primary and secondary progressive MS have begun taking part.

This year, MS Awareness Week will run from 24-30 April. For the first time ever, we’re joining forces with six other MS charities: MS Trust, Overcoming MS, MS Together, Shift.ms, MS-UK, and MS Therapy Centres. We’re coming together with a common goal – to raise as much awareness about MS as possible. We want to make this year’s MS Awareness Week bigger and better than ever!

Keeping adults with care and support needs protected from harm is a priority for us. So it’s critical for the safe running of our groups that volunteers understand safeguarding and how to report any concerns.

Firstly, we want to say a big thank you to everyone who has used or tested the new MS Society Designs order process.

We’ll soon be making our new ‘Health and Safety for group volunteers’ training available on our eLearning platform.

We’ve designed this short, interactive course to help raise awareness of the forms needed for events and activities, how to use the Portal for recording them and where to get support if you need it. It will only take 15-20 minutes to complete the course.

At the beginning of 2022 we were delighted to launch our new Volunteer Recognition Scheme — including Length of Service recognition and our new Impact Awards (to replace Shining Stars).

Length of Service recognition

We’ve been saying thank you to our volunteers on the key anniversaries of their involvement with the MS Society. We send these messages to your email inbox, based on the information we have on our database about your volunteering record with us.

There are just two months to go until Volunteers’ Week 2023, which runs from 1-7 June. This annual event (now in its 39th year) is a time for charities, voluntary groups, social organisations, and volunteers themselves to come together. And to recognise the incredible impact that volunteering has on communities around the UK.

The TCS London Marathon 2023 is just around the corner and we have a team of over 300 runners taking on 26.2 miles for the MS Society. Together they’re hoping to raise an incredible £700,000. So we really want to ensure that they have a great experience and feel supported along the whole route.

How can I help?

Volunteers are a vital part of all our cheer points along the route. We need as many people as possible to join us in making lots of noise and cheering on our fantastic team.

Our Stop MS Annual Lecture for 2023 will be given by Professor Helen Ford on Thursday 25 May. Helen is Consultant Neurologist and Clinical Lead of the West Yorkshire MS Treatment Programme at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and Honorary Clinical Professor of Neurology at the University of Leeds.