This blog submission comes straight from the SHA Office in Grampian. Big thank you to Paula Hepburn for writing and Liz Fraser for input. It’s a great piece where they talk about some of the joy that comes from working with our HD community and the fun they had going to the Tatty Barn Dance organised by fantastic fundraiser Fiona Grey.
People are amazing, that’s the conclusion we’ve come to in our office!
We all have ups and downs in life, some more than others, and within the realm of our work we come across the best of people in often the worst of times. Our small team deals with folks from all walks of life that have the common thread of HD running through their family histories, but there’s always a smile or resilience that shines through as they deal with life as they know it. Often it can be the smallest detail that triggers a memory or begins a spontaneous story to share which ends in laughter, and it’s those moments of laughter that help to keep going.
There was much laughter in our office recently when we were invited to a charity event organised by one of our HD families. It was called a ‘Tattie Dance’ – some of us weren’t sure exactly what it entailed but it promised to be a great night with DJ, raffle and stovies. The location was quite remote as it was out of town and the drive took us through some amazing scenery (isn’t Scotland beautiful?!). We eventually arrived at the venue which was a huge barn on a local farm, and when we entered it was already busy with an excited atmosphere. There were around 200 people and judging by the refreshments on the tables they were all determined to have a good time! There were lots of opportunities for folks to give their support with games being played and raffle tickets sold with many prizes, including a toy tractor which produced lots of hilarity when a burly farmer won it! Everyone joined in the goodwill of the evening and it was really heartening to see a small community pull together to support SHA.
As the evening went on the music got louder and folks were strutting their stuff on the dance floor, it was a great space for the shindig. We asked what the barn was usually used for as it had massive coolers at one end….of course, it was the tattie shed, used for storing the crop of tatties at 3 degrees!
