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July 2026 TAG Talk Newsletter including Autumn Events

 

In this Newsletter:

• TAG goes on Tour - Summer events Update

• TAG goes on Tour - Autumn Events Launch

• AMC Awareness Day 2026

• Regional Contacts 

• Member news 

 

1 - TAG Goes On Tour - Summer event updates

Our events at Bristol and Twycross were a great success, with 43 people attending across the two events. This is a similar number to those in attendance at the last family weekend. A fantastic time was had at both days by all those who attended, and we have had some lovely feedback from members but also members of the public during the day.

A personal favourite moment, was a comment I overheard from a member of the public as our group chatted away. We were moving between enclosures and a family had paused on the pathway to let us through. A little boy aged around 6 said to his mum  "Wow! Why are that family all in disabled in wheelchairs?" His mum didn't shrug the comment off or shush him, as I am sure many of you have experienced, she also didn't attempt to explain something she didn't know about, she simple stated "because they're all awesome." I can't convey the tone in my recollection but she bounced off of his enthusiastic "wow" and replied with the same positive tone, you could hear her smile in the voice. Not only did I want to parent to parent high five her but at that moment I thought, there's another reason why days like this are so important. Awareness!  

 

 

Blackpool Event - Unfortunately we had to make the difficult decision to cancel our Blackpool event due to be held on the 11th July. Originally when we asked members to express an interest in the event we had interest from 10 families. Sadly when it came to members booking on to the event we only had three bookings, and no deposits paid. With the deadline approaching for us to pay the venue and after contacting those who had originally booked, some of whom told us they could no longer attend, we made the difficult decision to cancel the event. 

Edinburgh Event - We are however excited to be travelling north for our Edinburgh event and have 15 people currently booked on for this event. The group booking has now closed but please, if you have a sudden change of plans and wish to make your own arrangements to come to the zoo, please get in touch as we would love to see you!

 

2 - TAG Goes On Tour - Autumn Launch

We are very excited to be able to release the dates and locations of our Autumn events. Please add these to your diary, we would love to see you there!  In order to give everyone as much time as we can make arrangements and plan which events they wish to attend we are opening booking TODAY!  

 

 

How to book:

You will find below a button to the booking form for each of the events listed above. TAG will be covering the costs for the events, admission and lunch. To ensure that TAG’s fund are used appropriately each booking will require a £10 deposit per booking which will be returned upon confirmed attendance on the day. If you have any Dietary requirements please include these in the booking form. Once your booking form is completed TAG will send a booking confirmation within 7 days including details of how to pay the deposit. Please note bookings are only confirmed once the deposit is paid. 

 

• York Railway Museum Booking form - Book by 20th September
• Leicester Space Centre Booking form - Book by 18th August
• Duxford Imperial War Museum Booking form - Book by 30th September

• Winchester Science Museum Booking form - Book by 11th September

 

3 - AMC Awareness Day 2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating AMC Awareness Day 2026 and by wearing blue, and thank you to those who shared photos on our social media pages.

 

 

A special Thank You goes out to Willow who raised a fantastic £237 by organising a non-uniform day and selling blue ice poles in the playground, and encouraged her friends and teachers to wear blue to raise awareness of AMC. Well done Willow! Thank you to Mrs Revill, Willow's headteacher for supporting AMC awareness day.

 

4 - Regional Contacts

Thank you to those who have expressed an interest and had an informal chat with trustees. We currently have regional contacts who have expressed an interest in supporting in the following areas:

• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• South East
• South West

 

Areas we are still looking for regional contacts for: 

• Scotland
• North East
• North West
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East of England
• London
• South East

 

It is always good to share the load so please do get in touch by filling in our volunteer form if you think you can help in any way (even if your area already has a representative). You can fill in our “Becoming a TAG' Volunteer” form here and we will be in touch.

 

 

5 - Member News

London Marathon 2026 

 

  

 

A huge congratulations to Kyrby Brown who completed her first London Marathon this year, raising a whopping £3,600 for The Genie’s Wish charity!  Kyrby is a frame runner and finished in fantastic 4:49:35! Well done Kyrby - what an achievement! Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of Kyrby as she has put herself forward to be one of our volunteers and regional contacts. If anyone is interested in frame running and what it is, Kyrby has agreed to be one of our first guest speakers on our online information sessions later in the year (more to come about this soon). In the meantime you can read more on her blog 'Wheels 2 Wander'. 

 

 

 

Also after an eleven year break we would like to congratulation Sarah Piercy for completing her 11th London marathon in 3:10:37. Sarah won the marathon in 2000 on her first attempt at just 19 years old!!! She says explains didn't even realise she'd won it: "Not even knowing I had won it. I had Sue Barker come up to ask me how it went, without any thought I just said “I’m... [blimin] knackered!”. [It wasn't] till I was in the medical tent getting help out of my racing wheelchair I asked how well had I done, at that point my Mum Diana, Founder of TAG, came in in tears. it suddenly hit me what I had just achieved". Well done Sarah!

 

Pub Quiz Fundraising - A huge thank you to Andrew Merewhether-Helps who organised a pub quiz evening at the Hedge End Social Club and raised £588 for TAG. 

 

 

Congratulations - At the end of June our member Elena got engaged to her fiance Cary in Paris. On behalf of all our members we would like to congratulate Elena and Cary on their engagement and wish them a lifetime of happiness together.