TV personalities support medical charity at Number 10 reception

Samantha Cameron played the hostess with the mostest as she threw a reception for children’s charity Action Medical Research (AMR).

The Prime Minister’s wife held the event at ‘number 10’ on Tuesday, March 25 which was attended by several charity funded researchers, and TV personalities Fiona Bruce and Davina McCall, who are key supporters of AMR.

McCall has recently achieved hero status after completing her gruelling 500-mile triathlon and raising more than £2m for Sport Relief 2014.

Journalist and presenter Bruce, who has worked with AMR since 1999, gave a speech on the importance of medical research.

She said: “I’m Proud to be invited to the 10 Downing Street Reception for AMR. With the help of all their supporters they have played a significant role in many medical breakthroughs for over 60 years, starting with the development of the first UK polio vaccine”.

Among the researchers who attended the reception were Dr Hazel Evans, Department of Respiratory Paediatrics, University Hospital Southampton, Dr Topun Austin, Neonatal Unit and Professor Gordon Smith, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, both of The Rosie Hospital, Cambridge University.

AMR, funded in 1952 by Duncan Guthrie, has since spent £100m making outstanding medical breakthroughs, including the eradication of many cases of polio, helping the prevention of spina bifida during pregnancies and the development of Ultrasound technology.

The charity is currently supporting work against other diseases which affect children from a young age, such as epilepsy, meningitis and cerebral palsy.

Despite the major progress achieved by AMR, hundreds of thousands of children in the UK today are still affected by severe diseases and disability and are still holding out the hope that their medical research provides.