OVER £17,000 has been raised for sufferers of multiple sclerosis by Island residents in the last year. 

£13,000 of this will be spent locally on support for the 140 people in the Island who suffer from the disease.

Derek Patience, chairman of the Multiple Sclerosis Society in the Isle of Man, said: "MS Awareness Week, which runs from May 23 to 29, seems a good opportunity to celebrate the continued generosity of our supporters who raised over £17,000 last year and to publicly thank all those who have run marathons, taken part in the Parish Walk, taken a dip in the freezing Irish Sea every New Year's Day and – less energetically but with just as much enthusiasm - held fund raising events at home, in their offices and made personal donations."

The money raised is spent on providing emotional, practical and financial support and this year was also used to make a donation towards research projects funded by the MS Society in the UK. This included ground-breaking research into the cause of MS which it is hoped will eventually lead to a cure.

Derek continued: "So many people have contributed to this fantastic total but I would particularly like to pick out a few - Nationwide International, whose staff nominated the MS Society as their charity of the year and raised £3000, Michael Football Club who raised £1000 for us as their charity of the year and Zurich whose staff yet again nominated the MS Society for a share of their staff charity fund. 

“In addition I would like to thank everyone involved with the Peel New Year's Day Dip – each year we receive a third of all money raised from this and in 2010 this again topped £1,700. 

"But this is by no means the whole list and we are grateful to absolutely everyone who has made a contribution in the last 12 months."