We have added some more doctor sessions to our diary, so have the potential to see new patients at very short notice currently. So, if you have been putting off getting your headaches sorted call today and we should be able to have you seen by one of our experts in the coming week!

Call 0207 251 3322 or request an appointment online here.

We are pleased to introduce our new ‘Your Migraine’ campaign. We’re encouraging anyone struggling with migraine, not to suffer in silence but to seek out help.

Click here to go to the website where you can find some simple tips to help manage headaches, or click on the images below to get involved with the campaign’s facebook and twitter feeds.

It’s been a while since our last newsletter and we’ve seen some big changes here at the Centre. We’ve unveiled a new name, logo and a rock-star patron.

You can follow the link below to view the newsletter in full:

March 2012 Newsletter

May 20th 2012 – London-Brighton

We’re looking for cycling enthusiasts to cycle either a 75km or a 150km route through the Surrey and Sussex countryside to the coast. The event normally raises money for the Royal Marsden but the organisers are kindly allowing our supporters to raise money for us this year.

See the event site for more details but do not sign up there, instead contact Rebecca if you wish to enter.

Happy 2012 to all of our supporters!

With it being the time of year to make resolutions, we are encouraging sufferers to make their migraines a priority.

Whether that means just better migraine management for our existing patients or coming to visit us here at the clinic for new patients, it’s as good a time as any to get those migraines under control.

We want to wish all of our staff, patients, donors and doctors a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2012.

Rebranding Launch – Personal Invitation

In the New Year we will launch our new name, logo and website to better reflect what we do and appeal to a wider audience. At the same time we plan to engage press and political leaders in discussing new treatments for migraine, our plans for outreach throughout the UK and how we can help the NHS.

As a valued supporter of the clinic we are offering you complimentary tickets to our event at a stunning venue just a short walk from the clinic:

17 January 2012 from 6.30pm to 8.30pm

Haberdashers’ Hall, EC1

As the City of London Migraine Clinic, we have been at the forefront of primary headache research as well as treating sufferers for over 30 years. However, we see patients and train GPs from all over the UK and we are more than just a clinic. Our new name reflects this.

Drinks and canapés will be served from 6.30pm.

Giles Elrington MD will be talking about innovations in headache management at 7.30pm.

RSVP to Rebecca Sterry at rebecca.sterry@migraineclinic.org.uk or call her on 0207 251 7806. Tickets strictly limited.

This event has been kindly supported by Mr & Mrs Wingrove & The Haberdashers’ Co.

Eat, drink and stay at Malmaison

We have a fantastic fundraising opportunity thanks to our neighbours, Malmaison. This 4-star boutique hotel in Charterhouse square has given us a generous dine & stay package to auction for Clinic funds.

You can choose to stay any night and will receive complimentary breakfast, dinner and wine for two in their fabulous subterranean restaurant. This could cost in the region of £300 normally.

It would make the perfect Christmas present and the central location is perfect for the January sales or an evening at the Barbican-you could even coincide your visit with our event in January!

We are inviting bids, so please email your bid price through to rebecca.sterry@migraineclinic.org.uk and the highest bidder wins! You do not need to have a date in mind when placing the bid. The closing date is 5pm, 22 December and the winner will be announced on 23 December in time for Christmas! Good luck.

Little by little buys us a couch

Last month we asked if anyone was willing to sponsor new items of furniture for the clinic. We had two very kind offers from sponsors but still have a long way to go to reach the high clinical standards that we hope to achieve with our facilities. The main priority is medical couches, these are expensive, but once they have been bought should not need to be replaced for many years to come.

We thought that the most achievable way of getting sponsorship is splitting the cost and getting a group of people to buy a couch. We are encouraging you to put in £5, £20 or whatever you can afford and via any means easy for you.

Each square represents £5 and we hope that by visualising what you are contributing to, all our supporters will want to get involved at this time for giving.

Text Head08 and the amount to 70070

Send us a cheque for any amount to ‘The City of London Migraine Clinic

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Last month we asked if anyone was willing to sponsor new items of furniture for the clinic. We had two very kind offers from sponsors but still have a long way to go to reach the high clinical standards that we hope to achieve with our facilities. The main priority is medical couches, these are expensive, but once they have been bought should not need to be replaced for many years to come.

We thought that the most achievable way of getting sponsorship is splitting the cost and getting a group of people to buy a couch. We are encouraging you to put in £5, £20 or whatever you can afford and via any means easy for you.

Each square represents £5 and we hope that by visualising what you are contributing to, all our supporters will want to get involved at this time for giving.

2. Find a Migraine Champion

Our hunt for ambassadors is a real priority at the moment due to our upcoming rebrand and is repeatedly enforced to us by our advisors. If you do know of anyone that suffers or has experience of someone with migraine who fits the bill, we really need to hear from you.

Firstly we would like a celebrity who suffers with migraine to help gain press attention for the launch by sharing their story. We also want to hear from some successful individuals who are at the pinnacle of their career and could act as a case study by providing us with quotes to use in the press coverage for the launch.

Whether you are a Judge, City banker or CEO of a law firm, we want to hear your story. With young people across the country struggling to find work, we think it is more important than ever to help those that feel further disadvantaged by migraine. We want to show that with the right guidance, support and willpower to manage the condition, migraine is not a burden and greatness can be achieved.

To get in touch please reply to this email or call 0207 251 3322.

 
There are a number of running events that we need to commit to within the next 2 weeks if we require places and we hope some of you will come forward to volunteer your sporting talent to represent the clinic. The dates are as follows:

May 20 Bupa Great Manchester Run (10k)

Sep 16 Bupa Great North Run, Gateshead (Half Marathon)

Oct 28 Great South Run, Portsmouth (Half Marathon)

Oct TBC – Great Birmingham Run (Half Marathon), Great Edinburgh Run (10k)

Alongside the normal ‘Great Runs’ are the ‘Great Swims’ in June, July and September in various locations across the UK – London, Manchester, Strathclyde, Suffolk and The Lake District. For more information visit the dedicated Great Run or Swim websites. 

Please let me know if you are interested in any of the above rebecca.sterry@migraineclinic.org.uk

As we have little experience organising such events, we are not being too demanding with sponsorship, so don’t let raising large sums put you off. We will cover entry costs and provide runners with a professional Migraine Clinic running vest and support throughout the process, including the opportunity to network with other runners competing in the same event. We ask that you raise at least £250 to allow us to cover costs and make a significant contribution to the charity.

The City of London Migraine Clinic Newsletter

NOVEMBER 2011

Contents
1. The future of the Clinic: Building on firm foundations
2. Sponsor a seat
3. Brandts Jewellery with The City of London Migraine Clinic
4. New Doctor welcome
5. Online Christmas shopping via Easy Fundraising

1. The future of the Clinic – Building on firm foundations

We have been busy this month organising a launch event to celebrate and publicise our rebranding. Some may have read in previous newsletters about our reason for this. We feel it is crucial to the future development of the clinic for reasons we have explained all below. The consultancy and design work has been fully funded by a grant, so we are working with a company that are used to dealing with national charities’ needs.

Why change the name and logo? Our current name and logo have posed a number of problems and we feel it is holding us back. National press have been reluctant to mention us due to our ‘London-centric’ name despite the fact we operate nationally. Prospective patients have criticised our name as not reflecting openness to those throughout the UK, some disregarding us because they are not from London. Our logo itself has been described as a closed-door or reminiscent of a stuffy private clinic. Both complete paradoxes of the image we want to portray. In our building we have the potential to see patients 5 days a week, currently we are open for just 3. We need more demand for appointments in order to run efficiently and become self-sustaining, hence reworking the website and a PR push.

Why now? Now is a crucial time for the clinic to move forward. Three years ago the clinic was close to closure, with a defecit of £119k in 2008/09. Since 2009/10 we have been in the black (see our most recent Annual accounts here) but this has only been possible due to job cuts and staff adopting heavier workloads. We now rely on unpaid interns who work with us on a 6 monthly basis allowing us to function but not grow, as they soon leave for paid employment, and we are back at stage 1. It is not always easy to attract such volunteers and there have been times when we have had no administrators at all.

To ensure that the clinic is here and flourishing in the next 30 years we need to take drastic action to propel expansion. Continuing to keep our head above water is not enough so we have developed a strong strategy for self-sufficiency and growth involving:

- Improving service provision:

• upgrading of facilities to ensure the building is ‘fit for purpose’ and delivering the highest care quality standards
• investment in PR & marketing to increase awareness of the service to the public & GPs.

- Creating Corporate relationships – to bring in sponsorship, occupational health service contacts or general funding.

- Developing NHS partnerships – to develop a regular income stream from our education and treatment services.

A full-time paid Business Development post is necessary to work on these contracts, relationships, PR and Marketing, which is something we hope to be able to budget for in the near future.

Why have a launch event? Our main objective with the rebranding is to reach out to more people and to do this we need press coverage. We can send out press releases and invites to national, local and medical press as well as political and opinion leaders in a bid for column inches. We will use this as an opportunity to thank our loyal supporters by inviting you to celebrate our 30 year legacy and toast to the future whilst we inform you of our developments. GPs that we work closely with will also be invited and comments will be welcomed from all!

We are planning a series of interesting opportunities leading up to and following the launch on the evening of January 17th (keep your diaries free!). Keep reading the newsletters for updates.

The first is an exciting collaboration with patient and jewellery Designer Ayshe of Brandts Jewellery. If you like shopping this issue could be for you!

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2. Sponsor a seat

We are asking for our supporters to help us sponsor couches and chairs for the clinic. Our current furniture is verging on antique. These horse hair filled examination couches were secondhand when the clinic first opened its doors in 1980. Up until now, replacing them has not been a priority as staying afloat and running a high quality service was our main objective, however as discussed above we feel it is now time to address these facilities.

Obviously the appearance of the clinic is important but the real reason we need new couches is to adhere to the highest care quality standards for health, safety and hygiene. In our care we always exceed standards but due to a lack of funds, we are unable to meet such high levels elsewhere in the organisation, which is why we are asking for your help. The chairs too will be easier to keep clean, are modern looking and comfortable. We intend to get a large number of the same design so that they can be used in reception, clinical rooms and for meetings, so are flexible within the space and allow for expanding numbers of patients over the next year.

Oxfam encourage supporters to buy a goat for a village as a Christmas present, so why not offer a couch or chair – the perfect gift for a keen supporter of our cause!

We do not want to be replacing these item any time soon so have thoroughly researched the market to find the best quality, most durable products out there so have come up with these:

- 40 Chairs at £199 each

- 7 Examination couches at £931 each

If you would like to sponsor either of these items please contact me on 0207 251 3322 or email rebecca.sterry@migraineclinic.org.uk, we will happily accept contributions if you are unable to be the sole sponsor of an item. Main sponsors will be thanked publicly if their permission is granted.

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3. Brandts Jewellery

We are very excited at the prospect of teaming up with jewellery designer and past patient of the clinic, Ayshe Brandts to launch a collaborative collection to help raise awareness of Migraine and raise money for our work. The jewellery would make wonderful unique presents for any women friends or family. It is handmade in London, using high quality materials. We hope that you will come together and embrace this project by visiting the online shop. The amount that Brandts Jewellery will donate to the clinic is listed by each item, so that you know any profit is going to a good cause.

A word from Ayshe: As a landscape architect, I am always fascinated by forms and patterns found in nature and in the man-made environment. This collection is part of a seriesinspired by the patterns found on street furniture in London. The collections, such as Samarkand and Nautilus celebrate London at its best – a melting pot of diverse cultures from the far corners of the earth, creating a palimpsest of beauty over the centuries. This particular collection, Domus (meaning house), reminds me of a symmetrical pattern sometimes found above doors. In this case, it represents the open door philosophy of the City of London Migraine Clinic, so that all people whose lives are affected by migraines can seek help, whether rich or poor.

Although I have suffered from occasional migraines for many years, my crisis of daily, crippling migraines which went on for several months coincided with the financial crisis that the Clinic encountered 2 years ago. Through the Clinic, I had access to the best specialist care in the world, with medical and compassionate support from physicians such as Prof. MacGregor, who is unique in her area of specialisation. With this help I have been able to rebuild my life after being forced to leave my job because of migraine.

I have created this collection as a means of showing my gratitude to the Clinic, and in order to help raise funds to ensure that it continues its good work and helps many more people that walk through its door.

For each online sale from this collection, I will donate a nominated amount (between £5 and £55). If you would prefer to choose a piece from one of my other collections I will donate 15% of list price to the Clinic (please note your request of donation at checkout). Visit the Brandts site to view the range.

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4. New Doctor welcome

We would like to offer a warm welcome to a new doctor at the clinic; Dr Nazeli Manukyan. Dr Manukyan is originally from Armenia, where she gained her medical degree and then specialised in neurology and stroke medicine. She moved to the UK in 2000 and has since completed training as a GP and with the Faculty of Reproductive and Sexual Healthcare. Alongside two days a week at the clinic, Dr Manukyan is working as a GP in South Croydon.

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5. Online Christmas shopping via Easy fundraising

More shopping news! Use Easy Fundraising site as a search engine to forward you onto your favourite shopping destinations to raise money for the clinic. We suggest you save the page as your homepage as we get up to 15% of your total purchase price at over 2000 top retailers. Visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk and save to your favourites today!

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