JUNE TPA CONFERENCE and SEEKING VOLUNTEERS

[Guest guest]

Dear TPA Member,

The time has come to once again send out a notification to all our members inviting you to attend our annual TPA Conference, this year, to be held on Saturday 11th June 2011 at 12.00noon until 6.00p.m. at The Black Horse Hotel, 16-18 High Street, Skipton BD23 1JZ, West Yorkshire.

The Black Horse seats up to 180 in its large function room above the pub which has a large garden at the rear backing on to the Canal. It is situated on the High Street that was voted `Best UK High Street' a couple of years ago. We have booked the room from 12.00 Noon (for as long as we need it) on Saturday 11th June 2011 – so please put this in your diary now. If you have not attended any of our meetings before, these come highly recommend as many of our members will tell you.

Skipton is the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales and the scenery is really stunning - and the locals very friendly. The Black Horse is about 15 minutes walk from the Railway Station or you can hop into a taxi at the Station. There is a very large municipal car park opposite The Black Bull just behind the Town Hall.

If you are travelling from a distance, we have lots of B & B accommodation in the surrounding area so you could make this occasion a mini-holiday, or even a maxi-holiday. I would strongly advise booking early though because Skipton (known as `The Gateway to The Dales' is a tourist Market Town and accommodation can be hard to come by during the summer months.

I know you will be delighted to learn that the cost of Tickets for our June Conference is only £10.00 per person. This includes the cost of hiring the Clifford Suite (£100) and the cost of an excellent 'help yourself' to a 2 course buffet which includes:

Nachos

Freshly cut sandwiches

Mature cheddar and red onion chutney

Egg mayonnaise and rocket

Ham and tomato

Huommos with paprika oil served with vegetable crudités

Spicy pasta salad

Tossed mixed salad

Garlic bread

Soy bubble battered chicken wedges

Crispy potato wedges topped with cheese and bacon

and then - Strawberry Souffle

If you have special dietary needs, please let me know when you make the booking what these are specifically and the Chef will be happy to accommodate your needs.

After lunch, we relax and listen to speeches given by Dr Peatfield, Dr Skinner and one other (we are negotiating at the moment ) ) and this is followed by a Question and Answer Session between guests and the doctors which is very enjoyable and extremely informative.

This is followed by the raffling of many and various prizes. If you have anything that you would like to donate towards this raffle, please will you let Marie know [holloway.marie@...]

In the evening, anybody staying in the area will be very welcome to once again, come back to my home at Squirrel Cottage where we will continue `the party'. For those wanting over-night accommodation, please see our FILES section of our Forum where there is a list of some B & B's under the FILE entitled `Accommodation'.

If you wish to make a booking (or two or three….or even ten…), please contact me as soon as possible giving me your name, email address, telephone number and the number of places you would like to book. You can bring as many people as you like because as stated previously, the Conference Hall can accommodate up to 180.

I sincerely hope that you will be able to attend and look forward to meeting lots of already familiar faces and lots of new faces in Skipton next June. If you have any questions concerning this forthcoming event, please do not hesitate to contact me sheila@...

DESPERATELYH SEEKING VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH OUR CHARITY WORK

Do you have some spare time on your hands that you would love to devote to helping our brand new TPA Charity in any way whatsoever.

First and foremost, we are looking for a Volunteer (unpaid) Treasurer, a Volunteer (unpaid) PR Officer and a Voluntary (unpaid) Volunteer Coordinator. Volunteer Coordinators help to support and manage a group of volunteers through instigating regular contact, reviews and holding network meetings to share best practice and experiences. If you have experience of working in these fields, and would like to help TPA (perhaps you did this in a `former life' before you retired and would like to work with us by giving give us the benefit of your experience for just a couple of hours or so a month).

As you will be aware, volunteers will have a powerful influence on the success of our campaigns, and on all those suffering with thyroid problem they help. Ask any active volunteer and they'll tell you the experience is just as rewarding for them.They make it all happen. They are the ones who will make all the difference to all the people we are trying to help. We cannot achieve our aims and objectives without the work and support of our volunteers and believe me, we have volunteering roles in a variety of shapes and sizes.

If you would like to know more about volunteering or if you feel you would like to volunteer your services in whatever way you know best, then please contact Marie [Holloway.marie@...] who will be pleased to help find answer to any questions you may have.

If you would like to know more about the role expected of the Volunteer Treasure, the Volunteer PR Officer or the Volunteer Coordinator, then please contact me at [sheila@...] and I will be pleased to send you more information.

Sheila

Chair

www.tpa-uk.org.uk