It was a poignant morning today for two reasons. First, it was the birthday of a very good friend, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease not that long ago, and, second, I attended a fundraising coffee morning in Sutton Poyntz in memory of a constituent Margaret Sykes, who passed away recently from the illness. The hall was packed and I mean literally packed. I tracked down Margaret's husband, Ken, who was amazed at the turn out. Ken's loss is so cruel, as is this dreadful disease. A nice lady from the MND support service spoke to us and said the disease was very rare and there was no cure. I chatted to many residents and then set off with Cllr Louie O'Leary, Cllr Jo Dickenson and her husband Peter to meet some residents in Preston. An interesting day.