Specialist head and neck health charity Get A-Head has rounded off its 30th anniversary year in style at a gala ball that raised more than £84,000.
The Birmingham-based charity was founded in 1994 and has since raised more than £10million to buy life-changing equipment, fund research, pay for training and education for healthcare professionals and to provide complementary therapies to soften the effect of treatment for people with head and neck conditions, particularly cancer.
Tom Bromwich, chairman of the Get A-Head Charitable Trust, said: “Our annual ball is always a great occasion, but this year it was particularly special as it was the finale to a fabulous year of fundraising and celebration.
“I’m very proud to have been a part of Get A-Head since the very earliest days and I think what we achieve, with a relatively small team, is nothing short of remarkable. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has ever played a part in our success, either as a fundraiser, volunteer or part of the core team.
“I would also like to thank all the professionals who continue to research into the causes of these devastating conditions and work tirelessly to develop better treatments and adaptations to make the lives of patients better.
“Over the past 30 years we have helped to fund some huge improvements in survival rates, better health outcomes and better quality of life, and that is definitely something worth celebrating. Here’s to the next 30 years!”
The ball, which was held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, was the culmination of a whole year of anniversary highlights for the charity.
One of the most high-profile events saw the Brightsides team take on the challenge of rowing across the Atlantic in aid of Get A-Head and Meningitis Now. The brave four-person team battled storms and periods of no wind at all to make the unassisted crossing in 52 days and 18 hours, raising more than £150,000 in the process.
Also putting themselves through the pain barrier for Get A-Head were London Marathon runners Neil Ayliffe and Immy Yeoman, who raised more than £2,200 between them, and Tom’s nephew Harry Bromwich, who raised more than £1,000 by running the Oxford half marathon. Get A-Head is particularly important to 20-year-old Harry, who – along with his sister, uncle Tom and three cousins – needed to have his thyroid removed in primary school to avoid the genetic thyroid cancer suffered by his father Edward.
The charity’s other major fundraiser in 2024 was a clay shoot day at the Holland & Holland Shooting Grounds in Northwood, near London, which raised £20,000.
Over the year, Get A-Head has raised more than £270,000. It has also supported and funded a wide range of large and small scale projects and initiatives to support people with head and neck conditions.
The charity has donated £40,000 towards a £270,000 project to assess whether existing data can be used to identify best practice in the treatment of head and neck cancers, and £30,000 to a project to identify and tackle inequalities in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Locally, £3,500 was donated to the ear, nose and throat department at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to spruce up a waiting room to make it more welcoming for patients, and a further £1,500 helped fund specialist support groups at the hospital for patients who have lost the ability to speak as a result of their cancer treatment.
