Christmas is a wonderful and special time of year, but can also be a sad occasion for many families as they remember loved ones who are no longer with them.

Sadly, as cases of meningitis significantly increase during the winter, thousands of families who have suffered the devastating consequences of these> diseases will be remembering one of the most distressing periods of their lives.

Meningitis UK has launched its first national Christmas Cracker fundraising and awareness event and would like to invite local schools to take part.

Meningitis UK has a single focus - to find a vaccine to eradicate meningitis.

As well as raising awareness of meningitis, Christmas Cracker promises to be great fun and to raise money towards our vaccine research rogramme.

The way the event works is simple. Schools invite pupils, parents, teachers and friends to their Christmas nativity play, carol concert or Christmas party and ask them to form a giant cracker-chain ring for a cracker-pull to end the event with a bang and display their unity against meningitis.

It is a shocking fact that during the few hours it takes to stage a Christmas carol concert, a child with meningitis can go from perfect health to being in a life-threatening condition. Early identification and prompt treatment can often mean the difference between life and death, so as part of the event we are offering every school that takes part a free Meningitis - Check the Symptoms fridge magnet, and wallet-sized symptoms cards to give out to parents and guardians.

To help make their event as successful as possible, each school will also be given a fundraising pack, including a countdown nativity calendar, posters to promote the event, along with fundraising advice, and a letter to personalise and send to parents and friends.

If any of your readers would like more information on how their school can take part in this event which will run until the end of Christmas, please call Meningitis UK on 0117 373 73 73 or email me at Laura Chapman on laurachapman@meningitisUK.org.

LAURA CHAPMAN, Meningitis UK