INSPIRE Foundation Reception at the House of Lords - 21st March 2023
On Tuesday 21 March 2023, a reception was held at the House of Lords to recognise INSPIRE's several achievements since the onset of the Pandemic. While tinged with considerable sadness at the loss of Patron Baroness Masham of Ilton, Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker welcomed nearly 80 guests to the beautiful River Room overlooking the Thames. We were delighted that Baroness Sal Brinton had volunteered to host the event and she spoke very movingly about Sue Masham’s wonderfully long life, packed with achievements on behalf of the disabled and other causes.
During the Reception INSPIRE Life Patronages were presented by Baroness Brinton to Emeritus Professor Mike Craggs and Professor Ian Swain for their combined 75 years research into spinal cord injury. Then Baroness Brinton presented the INSPIRE Foundation PhD Scholarship to Joeri van Helden from the Netherlands the Research Assistant on project TRUNK FUNCTION at University of Birmingham. Success in their PhD theses was recognised with presentations by The Lady Amherst to Dr Jonathan Rudge and Dr Sean Doherty and a cheque for £20,000 was presented to Research Fellow Dr Tamsyn Street, running project BOWMAN by Trustee Fiona Normington-Smith of the Valentine Charitable Trust. A rare bottle of malt whisky, signed by PM Rishi Sunak won at the Autumn Auction was belatedly presented to Mr Jonathan Cumberlege by his sister and Cook to INSPIRE author, Patron Nessie Owen. And finally Mr Stephen Croft was welcomed to the Charity by Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr David Reddin MBE and Chairman of the National Scientific Committee, Professor Nick Donaldson from UCL.
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- Baroness Brinton with Emeritus Professor Mike Craggs
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- Baroness Brinton with Professor Ian Swain
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- Baroness Brinton with Joeri van Helden
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- L to R: Lady Amherst, Cherry, Jonathan and Elise Rudge
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- L to R: Dr Tamsyn Street and Fiona Normington-Smith of the Valentine Charitable Trust
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- L to R: Jonathan Cumberlege with Patron Nessie Owen
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- L to R: Chairman of Trustees David Reddin MBE, New INSPIRE Director,Stephen Croft, Professor Nick Donaldson, Chairman of the National Scientific Committee, UCL
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- L to R: Patron Lady Amherst, Dr Sean Doherty and Dr Gracie Dowling-Mardon
The event was sponsored by Barlow & Bartlett Wealth Management to whom we extend our renewed and grateful thanks. Additional recognition is extended to the many guests who made sizeable donations towards our research programme. Those still wishing to donate can do so by following the instructions at: Donate
Many thanks to Professor Ian Swain for the photos:
