An appeal launched 21 years ago to help thousands of people with diabetes in Norfolk is still going strong in the form of the Norwich and Norfolk Diabetes Trust (formerly the Norfolk Diabetes Appeal).

It is fitting that NNDT’s 21st anniversary coincides with the 5th Annual Elsie Bertram Memorial Lecture which will be delivered by Dr Peter Watkins who was previously head of the internationally renowned diabetes service at King’s College Hospital, London and is an authority on all aspects of diabetes.

Dr Watkin’s lecture which will be entitled “Diabetes in Britain - Past and Present” will be take place at the John Innes Lecture Theatre, John Innes Centre, Colney Lane, Norwich at 6.30 pm on Thursday 24 April and admission is free.

The appeal was first launched in 1987 by Norwich diabetes specialists, Dr Richard Greenwood and Dr Philip Heyburn with the help of a generous donation from the late Elsie Bertram MBE. The purpose of the appeal was to raise funds to improve the care of the thousands of Norfolk diabetes patients.

Thanks to the tireless fundraising efforts of Elsie and many other supporters NNDT went on to raise over £2 million for local diabetes services. This has transformed the speciality in Norfolk. NNDT funded the Bertram Diabetes Centre, the Bertram Diabetes Eye Unit and the Bertram Diabetes Research Unit at the West Norwich Hospital (these facilities have now transferred to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital).

NNDT has provided substantial support for the development of a nationally recognised screening programme for diabetes eye complications. It has endowed a major diabetes research programme at NNUH and the University of East Anglia (led by Professor M J Sampson) and has paid for many smaller projects and facilities for which NHS funding was unavailable. These improvements in the local service have helped many of Norfolk’s diabetes patients improve the control of their condition and thus reduce the risk of complications such as blindness, kidney failure and amputation.