Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all had a lovely break and enjoyed spending time with friends and family.

No one here at NRAS, especially Ailsa, can quite believe that NRAS will be 10 years old! Ailsa has achieved so much in the last decade; starting the charity from the front room of her house with one volunteer, to now 19 staff strong at our offices in Maidenhead.

Without the support of our members, volunteers and fundraisers, we would not be where we are today. However, it is certain that we will not be able to continue supporting people with rheumatoid arthritis without your help, and what better time is there than our 10th birthday!?

You can check out the brand new section of our website to find out how you can get involved in our 10th birthday celebrations!

Even the staff here at NRAS are stepping out of their comfort zone in 2011 to help raise money for the charity! We have ‘Team 10 Tandem Skydive’ taking place in May, with a total of 6 NRAS team members (including myself) taking the plunge, as well as another 6 brave people signed up plus many more interested! If you would like to get your adrenaline pumping and are interested in doing a tandem skydive in aid of NRAS please contact the Fundraising Team on 01628 501547 or email [e-mail]

You may have also heard about our ‘Tea for 10’ campaign, which is asking you to invite 10 friends, family members, colleagues etc to a tea party to raise money for NRAS! For more information about Tea for 10 and to register please click on the following link. Once registered you will receive a fundraising pack which will include a celebrity recipe booklet from chefs such as Rick Stein, Phil Vickery & Gary Rhodes! nras.org.uk/support_us/10th...

We at NRAS will be holding our own Tea for 10 on Monday; each member of the team will be baking something from the recipe booklet and bringing it in to the office on Monday for everyone to try and test (any excuse to eat cake!). We will be adjusting the recipes if need be, taking pictures of our efforts and adding some baking tips to each recipe!

If a party isn’t your cup of tea, or you don’t fancy throwing yourself out of an aeroplane then there are lots of other ways to support us in our 10th year! Please click on the following link for more information. nras.org.uk/support_us/10th...

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you all a happy 2011!

Best wishes

Emma