Fibromyalgia Support Group for Surrey and Sussex

First Horsham Meeting

The first monthly meeting to be held in Horsham was on 2nd March. It took place in the Age Concern Centre in Lavinia House where the FMS SAS office is also situated. No meeting was planned for January and the February meeting had to be cancelled because of the snow.

Over twenty members and guests were gathered to hear Prof. Keith Davies (Royal Sussex County Hospital) talk about Fibromyalgia. He posed two questions.

Are People with Fibromyalgia able to manage/improve their condition?
Is there anything we can do as a group to help the NHS?

He gave a well prepared address illustrated by a Power Point presentation outlining the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of fibromyalgia, basically answering his first question.

Here are a few photos taken during the evening.

After a break for refreshments the meeting reconvened for discussion. Some people were not happy about the change of venue because it meant extra travelling distances to get to meetings. For others Horsham is more conveniently situated than Crawley! Janet Boniface (Chair of the meeting) suggested that members in other areas could look into the possibility of finding other meeting places where extra meetings could be held, especially in Surrey and East Sussex. Anyone with ideas for other venues and who is willing to organise some meetings please get in touch with Janet by email or phone 01403 751308 during office hours; Tuesday-Thursday 10am-3pm.

In answer to Prof. Davies' second question it was felt that as patients we could maximise the use of our doctors' time by providing a letter or list of symptoms, queries and problems in advance of appointments.

The Age Concern Centre proved to be a very congenial meeting place with abundant parking! Meetings will continue to be held there for the forseeable future. The next one is on 6th April.