The Bristol office of accountancy, investment management and tax group Smith & Williamson has made BRACE, which funds research into Alzheimer’s disease, its charity of the year.
The decision was based on the votes of around 200 staff at Smith & Williamson’s Bristol office.
Funds raised by the firm over the next 12 months will help to maintain BRACE’s cutting edge Brain Bank in the Learning and Research Centre at Southmead Hospital, as well as equipment, including new freezers and a pre-clinic, cognitive testing function.
One of Bristol-based BRACE’s roles is to help medical science understand the causes of dementia, find ways of identifying it earlier and more accurately, and developing more effective treatments.
Smith & Williamson Bristol office managing partner Mike Lea recently visited the Brain Bank where he met BRACE’s chief executive Mark Poarch and Brain Bank manager Dr Laura Palmer for a tour of the facility and to find out more about its ground-breaking work.
Mike Lea said: “Dementia touches the lives of so many people and BRACE is doing an incredible job in funding research to better understand this devastating condition. We are delighted to announce BRACE as the main beneficiary of our fundraising activities over the next 12 months. We look forward to hearing more about their work and doing as much as we can to help.”
Mark Poarch added: “The backing of a major professional firm can have such an impact on our fundraising and help us to build urgently-needed resources for new science here in the South West.
“It was great to show Mike the world-leading research facilities represented by the Brain Bank. Funding research remains the best hope we have to find real treatments for this cruel condition. The Smith & Williamson team are setting about their fundraising task with great enthusiasm and I know they will make a big difference this year.”
Since its launch in 1987, BRACE has raised more than £15m to help support research projects into all aspects of dementia. The charity works closely with research teams in universities and hospitals in Bath, South Gloucestershire and Exeter
Pictured at the Brain Bank at Southmead Hospital are, from left: BRACE chief executive Mark Poarch, head of fundraising Amanda Cole, Smith & Williamson Bristol managing partner Mike Lea and Brain Bank manager Dr Laura Palmer
