Thanet community news: Annual picnic for the East Kent Group of the Multiple Sclerosis Society

A chilly picnic for East Kent members of the Multiple Sclerosis Society

Some 35 members of the East Kent Group of  the Multiple Sclerosis Society held their annual picnic at a chilly Pegwell Bay Country Park on Friday (June 2). Even though the promised sun never tried to break through the clouds, and the cold wind was less than kind, a good time was had by all.

A special guest at the picnic was marathon runner Claire Barthram and her family. Claire’s mum Christine is a member of the group and in 2018 Claire ran the London Marathon to raise funds for the work the group does to help sufferers of MS in East Kent.

Claire and family

Since successfully completing that first marathon Claire has done a sponsored ‘Half Iron Man Challenge’, and in April this year she undertook another London Marathon, which she completed in 3 hours 57 minutes, beating her earlier marathon time by nearly 15 minutes.

Altogether Claire has raised over £4,000 in sponsorship to help the group, which is funded purely by donations and grants. To celebrate Claire’s achievements the East Kent Group administrator, Dot Fisk, presented Claire with a  glass trophy, and Claire then answered questions from the group members – the favourite of which was ‘how long did it take you to recover after the marathon’.

Dot and Claire

If you have MS, live in the Thanet or Canterbury areas, and would like to know more about joining the group then please email the administrator on [email protected], or check out the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/EKMSG