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Sainsbury’s is currently looking for nominations for their Local Charity of the Year. For the next week, customers and Sainsbury’s colleagues have the opportunity to nominate their favourite local charity, who could then be supported by their local store with a year’s worth of fund and awareness raising.

To nominate JDRF please go to your local store and fill in the short form, available at the entrance of every Sainsbury’s.

Nominations close 23 May. 

Find your nearest Sainsbury's store.

Find out more about the Local Charity of the Year Programme. 

With the launch of our brand new website last week we have also been working hard to revamp our research section and have included a brand new feature: research videos.

Over the past few months we have been interviewing some of the top JDRF-funded researchers in the UK and asking them to explain their research into type 1 diabetes. The footage has been edited down to the best bits and there are 1-2 min clips spread around the research section explaining some of our research.

From Professor Stephanie Amiel explaining type 1 diabetes, to Professor Mark Peakman telling us about clinical trials and Professor David Dunger talking about his AdDIT project we hope you find them both interesting and informative!

We will be updating the videos from time to time and adding more videos as we meet new researchers so keep an eye out! We also hope to have a page dedicated to videos which will include lots more videos that we didn’t have space for on the research pages!

JDRF research videos are kindly supported by   

On Saturday 28 April 2012, the Carten100 Mumbai Ball came to The Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay. The night was a phenomenal fundraising success, with the grand total making its way up to a spectacular £10,000.

Generous individuals, groups and businesses donated a range of incredible items for the live auction, silent auction and prize draw. Stand-out lots included a two night break at the world famous Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, and the shorts worn by rugby player Adam Jones at this year’s Wales vs. France Grand Slam decider, signed by the 2012 Wales Rugby team. There was a whole host of hotel breaks, restaurant vouchers, gifts and experiences also up for grabs.

The room was beautifully dressed in full Bollywood style by Perfect Functions, who provided guests with a three course chef-prepared Indian meal. Music and entertainment followed, led by Cardiff’s own Desi Beats and a local Dohl Drumming duo. A Zumba instructor really got the party started by pulling guests on to the dance floor to learn a fantastic Bollywood dance routine.

With guests dancing into the early hours, the night was a tremendous success and JDRF would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in the organisation and delivery of the Carten100 Mumbai Ball.This event was organised in conjunction with the Carten100 bike ride, which will see over 600 participants cycling 100 miles from Cardiff to Tenby on Saturday 12 May. Good luck to everyone taking part in this event – we’ll see you at the finish line!

On 15 April 2012, Andy Sier embarked on an epic journey to cycle 640 miles in 10 days, all in support of JDRF.

It was Andy’s first long distance bike ride, and involved cycling an eye-watering 64 miles a day (on average), with a combined climb of approximately 17,000ft.

As well as a test of endurance, the journey was an opportunity for Andy to visit some personally significant places. He planned his route to start in Essex (his birth place), and take him through York (his university city) and across some of his favourite parts of the Lake District.

This was also Andy’s first attempt at raising big funds for charity. With £1,300 raised for JDRF so far, it has been a particularly spectacular effort!

JDRF is a charity close to Andy’s heart. His daughter Anna (pictured) was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 2, after being mistakenly diagnosed with a urinary infection by several doctors. The family were later told that if Anna’s condition had continued undiagnosed for much longer she would have gone into a coma.

Luckily Anna is now fit and well, and is approaching her ninth birthday. And with fundraising efforts like Andy’s, JDRF can fund more research to help find the cure for type 1.

To read all about Andy’s journey, or donate to his JustGiving page, visit Andy’s blog.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, more than 30 photographers of all abilities descended on Nottinghamshire’s beautiful Rufford Abbey to capture some stunning portrait images and raise a fantastic £1,267 for JDRF.

The event was the brainchild of local photographer Rob Ferrol, whose four year old son Andrew was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just over a year ago. Rob wanted to raise money for JDRF by creating a unique event where everyone taking part would get something back from the day.

And so the idea of the charity photo shoot was born. Rob arranged for nine models (ranging from beginner to professional) to attend, and invited photographers to make a donation to JDRF in exchange for the opportunity to hone their skills and capture some breath-taking images around a true Nottinghamshire gem.

"The day totally surpassed all of my expectations", Rob told us. "It started out as a one-off event, but I have been inundated with requests to organise another".

If you are interested in taking part in any future events then please contact Rob through his website at www.robferrolphotography.co.uk.

On 27 May 2012, ten friends will be taking on the Three Peaks Yorkshire Dales challenge to raise awareness of type1 diabetes and fundraise for JDRF.

The idea came from Ruth Robinson, whose daughter Amy was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in November 2010. A few months after the diagnosis, Ruth spotted an article in the local newspaper about Hayley Hurdle, a woman with type 1 diabetes who ran the London Marathon.

'Before I saw the article, everything I had read about type 1 diabetes seemed very negative’ Ruth told us. ‘I immediately sponsored Hayley, and she contacted me to arrange a visit. Since then she has been a close family friend, and has helped us immensely with coming to terms with the condition, as well as offering practical advice’.

Hayley will be joining Ruth, along with eight other friends, to walk the Three Peaks and raise funds for JDRF. The walk will cover an epic 23 miles, and involve tackling the three highest peaks in Yorkshire. The team hope to complete the walk in under 12 hours, but will be taking their head torches just in case!

To date they have raised over £1,300, and are overwhelmed by the support of friends and family who have sponsored them.

If you would like to help Ruth raise even more money for JDRF, visit her JustGiving page to make a donation.

Pictured (left to right): Maxine, Angie, Tanya, Mary, Gillian, Caroline, Julie, Lynn and Hayley

Eye charity, Fight for Sight, is running a survey to find out what questions people with eye disease would like researchers to answer.  

The survey aims to understand how people with eye disease, their carers and eye health care professionals prioritise unanswered questions about the prevention detection and treatment of sight loss and eye conditions.

The results of the survey will be used to compile a list of questions that are most important to people with eye disease and their carers and to encourage researchers to investigate these issues. Research funders can also use this list of questions to identify applications that are hoping to answer the questions that have been prioritised. More details and to take the survey

MultiPepTIDe could stop the part of the immune system that attacks beta cells and protect the remaining beta cells from destruction so that they can continue producing insulin. An added benefit of this approach is that the drug selectively stops the part of the immune system that attacks beta cells and leaves the rest of the immune system intact so that the body can still fight infections.

As part of the same development programme, Professor Peakman is currently working on a JDRF funded project that is also trying to retrain the immune system not to attack beta cells. This drug, called Proinsulin Peptide, has already completed safety trials in humans and the team are now beginning a second clinical trial to determine whether there are signs of clinical efficacy. 

Professor Peakman sees the Wellcome Trust award as complementary to the current JDRF-funded programme. “Getting any new drug to the stage of testing in man is exciting, and we have started on that pathway with the proinsulin peptide. That has helped us to secure the Wellcome Trust support for the next iteration of peptide-based therapeutics, called MultiPepT1De, in which we will combine several of the key beta cell peptides into a single drug”.

JDRF are delighted to report that our inaugural mass lobbying event, Type 1 Parliament, was extremely well received by all at Westminster. Over 50 MPs attended our morning event in Parliament and talked to supporters and delegates about the realities of living with type 1 diabetes. JDRF delegates put their messages across incredibly effectively and articulately, and communicated passionately the facts of type 1 diabetes.

MPs commented on the day and have been in touch with JDRF, stating how much they enjoyed the event and meeting with delegates. They have told us they were overwhelmed by all the children and adults they met with and thought they were fantastic ambassadors for the charity. There was a real buzz around the event and we truly succeeded in educating politicians about type 1 diabetes and raising type 1 diabetes up the political agenda.

JDRF will be working hard to build upon the momentum of this day and to continue to effectively work with these MPs in the future. We will be in later next week, with details of our next steps forward and how you can help us to take these relationships forward.

The media have also been keen to pick up on the event, with well over 350 pieces of national, local and online media mentioning JDRF and type 1 diabetes. Karen Addington, Chief Executive of JDRF, was interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours talking about type 1 diabetes.

Our afternoon Question Time event was also a brilliantly received, with many thought-provoking and passionate questions receiving interesting and evocative responses from our panellists. In particular, it was a great opportunity for the Rt Hon. David Willets, the Minister responsible for Universities and Science, to hear the direct case for greater investment into type 1 research.

JDRF extends our thanks to all involved in Type 1 Parliament for making it such a worthwhile, enjoyable and productive day. We will now continue to work hard and build upon the success of the event.

You can view photos from the day on our Flickr account: www.flickr.com/jdrfuk

‘I welcome JDRF's Type 1 Parliament event, which puts the spotlight on type 1 diabetes. It provides the opportunity for people living with this unavoidable autoimmune condition to have their voices heard in Parliament,’ said the Prime Minister, David Cameron ‘I enthusiastically support JDRFs research programme, which aims to better treat, prevent and ultimately find the cure for type 1 diabetes.’

Today 60 children and adults with type 1 diabetes will be in the Houses of Parliament lobbying their MPs. They will take a message about the need for a greater investment in type 1 medical research to the heart of government.

Throughout the morning the children and adults will be meeting with more than 70 MPs to discuss what living with type 1 diabetes is like, and explain what a cure would mean to them.

They will then attend a panel debate where they will be able to challenge the Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, and other panellists on the lack of research funding and many other questions.