Read All About Our Annual Garrod Day
Each year, in celebration of Sir Archibald Garrod’s initial AKU description back in 1902, we hold our fundraising Garrod Day on the 25th November.
Below you’ll find information about the day and how you can help raise money for the AKU. If there’s anything else you need to know email us at [email protected]
Garrod Day is an important day in the history of alkaptonuria (AKU). It is on the 25th of November, the birthday of the late Sir Archibald Garrod, who was an English physician who first described AKU. We celebrate this by hosting coffee mornings all over the world, raising money for the AKU Society.
Sir Archibald Garrod was the fourth son of another renowned physician and was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church at the University of Oxford. He lacked interest in classics, so he performed poorly at Marlborough College. However, he graduated with a first-class honours degree in natural science in 1878. In 1885 he obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Arts from Oxford and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians. A very successful education!
Garrod is best known for his scientific study of inborn errors of metabolism. He had a childhood interest with colour variations, and he took notice of how the colour of urine changed. Due to this, he began to study alkaptonuria. He collected family history information as well as urine from his patients and in 1902, published a paper called The Incidence of Alkaptonuria: a Study in Chemical Individuality. This was the first published account of a case of recessive inheritance in humans. He received honorary degrees from the universities of Aberdeen, Dublin, Glasgow, Malta, and Padua in recognition of pioneering a new field of medicine.
We started hosting our annual Garrod Day Coffee Morning in 2015, to raise funds and awareness for AKU, it has a been a big success every year. We host a coffee morning in our office every year and hold an exciting raffle. People all over the world have hosted their own coffee mornings. Our research department and National AKU Centre in Liverpool host their own coffee mornings too.
All the way down i
n Australia, Kim set up an amazing coffee morning. She summed the morning up wonderfully in her own words, “I was actually quite overwhelmed and humbled by the generosity and support from my friends and raised A$185 on the day as well as who knows how much donated through the JustGiving website from those who couldn’t make it. A lovely morning with old and new friends and many more people now know about alkaptonuria!”
Carol raised £112.50 during Garrod Day selling cakes, second-hand books and AKU Christmas Cards. She made cheese and fruit scones, raspberry, lemon and almond tarts, mince pies, chocolate cookies and chocolate twit-t-woo cakes. A fantastic achievement!
So, are you feeling inspired to host your own Garrod Day Coffee Morning? Follow our quick step by step guide to hosting the perfect coffee morning.
1. Plan the Day Right: Think about the venue, the treats and the date. The venue would be where you would be hosting your Garrod Day Coffee Morning, whether it would be at home, at work or your local community centre. The most important part of the coffee morning is what treats you will be offering. Ask your guests to bring a baked good and make sure you bake something tasty yourself. Finally, the date of Garrod Day is the 25th of November every year, as this is when we celebrate Sir Archibald Garrod’s birthday.
2. Publicity: Make sure you spread the word about your coffee morning so you can invite as many people as you can! Use social media channels to talk about your upcoming coffee morning, create a Facebook event or use a Twitter hashtag #GarrodDay #AKUCoffee. If anyone can’t attend but still wants to donate, think about setting up a JustGiving page or Facebook Donation post. You can also advertise the event using our AKU poster design which can be downloaded below or posted to you.
3. Keep it Safe: Remember to correctly label food with any ingredients that could cause an allergic reaction. You can write down these ingredients and put them next to the cakes as a note. Consider looking at the Food Standards Agency Website for more advice on how to follow good practise when selling food,
4. Keep the Buzz Going After the Event: The event doesn’t end after the coffee morning, make sure to post everywhere the success of your coffee morning. Include lots of photo’s, quotes and how much you raised for the AKU Society. Don’t forget the AKU Society is happy to publicise your success as well, we do regular blog posts and social media posts.
Click below to download your free coffee morning kit and poster. The kit has great tips, recipe ideas and stories to get you inspired to bake to raise awareness for AKU. Alternatively contact our fundraising office, Juliet, [email protected] to get a coffee morning kit posted out to you for free, with balloons, an AKU collection box, coffee morning poster and many other fundraising supplies to ensure your coffee morning is a success!
