THE Farnham branch of Arthritis Research UK is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, having raised more than £300,000 to help transform the lives of those suffering with the debilitating condition over the past half a century.

Although its membership now stands at 160, the branch has humble origins - beginning life in October 1966 when just a handful of people met at the Farnham home of Dr and Mrs Norman to discuss the formation of a branch of The Arthritis and Rheumatism Council for Research (ARC).

They were Dr and Mrs M Norman, Miss D Inman, Miss D Barnett, Mrs R Twinn, Mrs Isham, Mrs Love, Mrs Philipson-Stow, Mrs D Dalrymple, Major Wilkes, and Miss J Tutton who was secretary for the south east region of Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire.

Miss Tutton outlined the twofold aims of the branch - to raise money for research and to spread the knowledge of what ARC was doing in the fight against arthritis - and two weeks later the first official committee meeting was held.

Dr John Todd was elected chairman, Dr Michael Norman vice-chairman, Rosamund Twinn secretary, Major Wilkes treasurer and Dr Bedo Hobbs membership secretary, while the rest of the committee consisted of those who had attended the initial meeting.

Shortly afterwards, Della Elkins was co-opted on to the committee, so these were the founder members, and thus the Farnham branch began. Dr Hobbs wrote several articles for The Herald, and from these, and by word of mouth, the branch gradually began to acquire members.

In the first few years, the main sources of fundraising were coffee mornings, bring and buy sales, raffles, cake stalls, sales of Christmas cards, the inevitable flag days, and jumble sales.

They had stalls at the first Maltings markets, which were held outside as the building alterations had not yet begun, and for many years ran very successful ‘betterwear’ stalls until they declined with the advent of the many charity shops.

Bric-a-brac stalls carried on for many further years at charity markets, village shows and at the Farnham Carnival, where there was always a big ARC presence.

As the branch grew, sponsored walks became a big feature, and later, the ‘hippy’ walks. Several people also ran marathons - London, New York and Boston.

There were concerts, garden fetes, fashion shows, quiz suppers, garage sales, plant sales, and the coffee mornings became bigger and bigger. Churches, schools, WIs, Townswomen’s Guilds and other clubs adopted ARC as their charity for the year, and individual members were sponsored for a tremendous variety of activities.

They have swum, walked, run, cycled, danced, baked, knitted, slimmed, gardened, painted, woodworked, had their hair cut, and even jumped out of an aeroplane – all for ARC.

In 1998 the name changed to Arthritis Research Campaign and more recently to Arthritis Research UK.

A number of special events are planned to celebrate the branch’s golden anniversary year, including a gala concert featuring the multi-talented Bowjangles string quartet on Saturday, June 18. at More House School in Frensham.

From 7.30pm, the quartet will entertain guests with a cabaret evening of music, song, dance and comedy “bringing old style music hall vaudeville into the 21st century”.

Tickets cost £25 including sparkling wine and canapes, available by calling the Farnham branch of Arthritis Research UK on 01252 712401, 01252 782064 or 07946 752860.

This follows a very special annual meeting at St Joan’s Centre in May, to which the branch welcomed distinguished guests the Mayor of Farnham, John Ward, the Mayor of Waverley, Christopher Storey, and Arthritis Research UK’s CEO Dr Liam O’Toole, as well as many members and past committee members including David Todd, the son of the branch’s founding chairman Dr Todd.

For more information about Arthritis Research UK or the gala concert visit the website www.arthritisresearchuk.org.