QUEEN HONOURS HEROES LEADING FIGHT TO FIND DIABETES CURE
THE Queen last night attended a glittering reception to mark the 80th anniversary of a charity working on behalf of three million people with diabetes.
She met key supporters, including representatives from the Daily Express, staff, volunteers and beneficiaries at the reception honouring Diabetes UK.
Among those at St James’s Palace in London, were Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers and Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford.
They both have children suffering from Type 1 diabetes. Rodgers was accompanied by his daughter Mischa, 19, who was diagnosed with the illness when she was seven. He said: “An event like this shows the seriousness of diabetes – if someone like the Queen is patron of the charity and is celebrating the work that it does.”
Senior executives from Express Newspapers, including the editorial director Paul Ashford, were invited to the reception in recognition of this newspaper’s coverage of diabetes as an issue affecting Britain.
The Daily Express was presented with the Silver Star Globe award for its coverage of diabetes at a ceremony hosted by David Cameron in 2013.
Simon O’Neill, Diabetes UK’s director of health intelligence, said yesterday: “We welcome the support of the Daily Express as we mark our 80th anniversary.
“Diabetes affects millions of people in the UK and the Express, along with other media, plays an important role in helping us reach out to people who either live with or are at risk of developing the condition.”
One of the co- founders of Diabetes UK, originally the Diabetic Association, was novelist HG Wells who suffered from the disease.