CureDM Connect: July 2026

Hello and welcome to CureDM Connect

Hello and welcome back to CureDM Connect monthly blog for July. I hope you are all well and enjoying keeping up to date with everything going on within th Charity. July was a very exciting and BUSY month for CureDM with their official CureDM Families Day being held on Saturday 25th July 2026. There will be lots of information within this blog all about the Families Day and what an amazing successful event it was. We will also be talking about our brand new Awareness Day campaign – Be seen going green!

The summer Families Day might have finished but this only means preparation for the Christmas event is in full planning mode. More details about how to register your interest for this ‘magical’ event will be in the blog. I wonder if anyone can guess where this years event will be held this year? I hope you enjoy catching up with all the updates for CureDM for July.

CureDM Families Day 2026

The 2026 Families Day was held from Friday 24th – Sunday 26th July at Drayton Manor Resort. CureDM welcomed 197 individuals from 46 different family group to Drayton Manor, to create long and lasting memories. 41% of the attendees live with DM themselves and people travelled from all over the UK to be there. These events are a fantastic place to meet others within the community, whether that be to catch up with old friends or meet new ones, the family events are an integral support system for our community, and wouldn’t be possible without the support of our local community, passionate fundraisers, Together Campaign families and all our generous sponsors. A huge thank you to them all to their continued support and allowing us to bring together our community as part of annual Family Day’s.

This year’s event was bigger and better than ever with 2 evenings of entertainment, food, dancing and activities. The charity received amazing feedback from attendees about the event and we are really proud of the community we have all built together. As part of the weekend, CureDM updated the community about lots of exciting updates and news from the charity and the wider DM world including:

• Be seen going green campaign – CureDM’s new Awareness Day campaign
• Updates from the new DM Support Plan webpage
• CureDM and MedicAlert partnership to provide medical alert support to the community
• Launching the Awareness Day video campaign
• Shoutouts for fundraising and cheque presentations from the community
• Makaton online classes
• Launching the 2026 Christmas event

Friday 24th July

On night one, guests were welcomed to the Tower Suite room from 5pm, by the dedicated trustees and volunteers at the registration table to receive their tickets and event goody bag and to find their table. The event room was dressed with charity balloons and music was provided from a DJ. All tables were themed to a different Thomas the Tank Engine characters as a nod to the wonderful Thomas Land at Drayton Manor.

At 6pm we heard from the Trustees of the charity, Emma-Jayne, Pete and Stephen, who gave updates from the charity, what we could expect from the weekend and a short history of CureDM and how the Families Day came to be. After this, all the attendees were treated to a fantastic buffet dinner. Over the weekend, guests were seated with different families and individuals over, which faciliatated the meeting of others that may live close by or who have a similar circumstance to yours. The aim was to make sure everyone had the opportunity to meet others, and widen the circle of support and shared advice and experiences.

At 8pm we were joined by the charity mascot Miles for a photo opportunity on the dance floor before late night dancing took over the room with lots of families dancing the night away.

Saturday 25th July

The morning of the Families Day began early for the guests that were staying onsite and had breakfast at the Drayton Manor Hotel. Tower Suite was open from 9am for some refreshments, pastries, meet up with friends and to plan the day. The theme park and onsite Zoo was open from 10:30am and lots of attendees headed over to Thomas Land or the Zoo to start their day.

It was lovely to walk around the park and see the fantastic CureDM T-shirts being worn by all. You could see other families and individuals exploring and having fun and the matching tops and snazzy hats brought that sense of community and togetherness. The T-shirts are a fantastic way of identifying others at these events, making it easy to chat to new people. They are also a great way of spreading awareness to the general public and we were often asked by staff and members other enjoying the park what they were for. It gave us a great opportunity to talk to them about the Charity and Myotonic Dystrophy.

The afternoon, refreshments were again provided in Tower Suite and some families joined Becky to take part in the video campaign by CureDM. members of the community were invited to speak about CureDM and awareness as part of a campaign for International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day, on September 15th.

The evening was then kicked off at 5pm when we heard from Tamsyn launching the Awareness Day campaign – ‘Be Seen Being Green’ and from Becky regarding the brand new DM Support Plan webpage that will be launching very soon. We were then treated to an amazing performance from the individuals that had been joining in with online Makaton classes and performed ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ from Toy Story! They all did an incredible job and we are very proud of them all for performing on the night!

The evening was wrapped up with another buffet dinner, closing words from CureDM trustees and some hours of family fun with the Photobooth filled with lots of props and Miles the charity mascot joined us again for the party. More dancing, outdoor games and drinks filled the evening with another Families Day coming to a close.

Sunday 26th July

The final day of the Families weekend began with another breakfast at the Drayton Manor Hotel and then over to the park for another day of fun. The weather was again lovely and lots of families stayed on for another day of ride fun, exploring the zoo and spending quality time with their family and friends. The charity trustees had no official meet ups or plans for this day so managed to get out into the park and spend sometime with their families after a VERY busy weekend!

A massive thank you goes to everyone that helped make the Families Day a success. CureDM is a small charity with a small group of trustees and volunteers that work tirelessly to host amazing events like this, and every year they get bigger and better than the last. A big thank you to everyone who joined us as part of the weekend and we hope you all had a fantastic time. We do understand that attending these events can be hard or overwhelming for some, especially when it is your first, but we hope that we help make everyone feel welcome. Having a rare condition like DM, can make finding others that understand and who can relate to your experiences hard. The charity key focus has always been around support and awareness and these events are a great way to see how they do this.

If you weren’t able to join us this time, and you would like too in the future, then please do keep up to date on our Facebook peer support and events page. We share regular updates regarding events and other news from the charity where you are able to register your interest for upcoming events. The page is also a great source of peer support where you are able to ask questions and offer advice to other families in the DM community, connect with others in your local area and feel part of an understanding and caring community. Join the page HERE.

Be seen being GREEN!

This year CureDM is proud to launch the brand new ‘Be seen being green’ campaign. Brain child of Tamsyn, this is a great way to celebrate International Myotonic Dystrophy Awareness Day on September 15th.

EVERYONE is being invited to celebrate and support the Awareness Day with a new competition all about being seen going green. The aim is to open up opportunity for a conversation to help spread awareness of Myotonic Dystrophy. Check out the webpage HERE! for some ideas and more information.

Up for grabs is a £50 voucher for a retailer of your choice, some CureDM goodies, plus you will be hailed our first ever CureDM Awareness Day Champion with a keepsake certificate. Best of all though, you’ll be helping raise awareness for a rare disease that desperately needs more recognition. All you have to do is ‘Be seen being green’ and send us a picture or video to be in with a chance of winning.

This competition is a fantastic way of spreading awareness and supporting CureDM with no pressure to fundraise or take part in a large scale event. You can go as big (or as green) as you want to and their is no pressure from us, it is all about having fun with it and raising the profile around Myotonic Dystrophy. Some ideas are below but the world really is your oyster!

• Go to your office job dressed as a green goblin.
• Get your school mates to all wear green socks/head bands/what your school will let you get away with!
• Invite your friends and family over for matcha smoothies and/or green pistachio cake.
• Board the commuter train with green face paint.
• Dress as a T-Rex and greet everyone you encounter with a fearsome Dino roar. 

We are really looking forward to seeing the community come together for Awareness Day 2026 and we look forward to seeing you all ‘GOING GREEN’!

2026 Christmas event sign-up

With the summer Families Day event finished, the planning for the Christmas event is in full swing and we are super excited to announce the location for this years event. CureDM are delighted to be able to offer funding for families to attend a magical and spell bounding day at Warner Brothers Studio Tour – The making of Harry Potter! on Tuesday 22nd December 2026.

CureDM’s Christmas event is always a date we have in our calendar as it is a really lovely family day to look forward to in the run up to Christmas and make lasting family memories year on year. Previous events have included The Polar Express, Disney on Ice and Longleat Festival of Light in 2025. Check out CureDM’s YouTube channel to check out previous event videos.

Hogwarts in the snow!

Get into the festive spirit at the annual Hogwarts in the Snow feature! Starting at the Great Hall all the way through to Hogwarts Castle model, fan-favourite sets throughout the Studio Tour will be decked out in festive finery. Learn the secrets behind ice that never melts and fire that doesn’t burn and see a blanket of filmmaking snow covering the Forbidden Forest, Diagon Alley and the magnificent Hogwarts castle model.

Please note that ticket costs for people living with DM will be refunded by CureDM but any extra’s, travel and accommodation are NOT included in this offer. If you would like to register your interest for the event then you please complete the form HERE . We hope to see lots of families enjoying themselves on the day, and once again if you have any questions then please do reach out to CureDM.

Thank you!

I hope you enjoyed reading the blog for July and it was great to round up all the fun that was had at the Families Day and officially launching the Awareness Day campaign for 2026. It was wonderful to meet lots of the community and it was lovely to hear that you enjoy reading my blog every month, so thank you very much! Join us again in August when we will be covering everything that happened in August, ramping up excitement for awareness day and looking forward to another Great North Run on September 13th! CureDM and Team Toby have 24 runners taking part in the largest half-marathon in the world, its going to be an exciting month! Thank you.

Becky Cartwright – CureDM Social Content and Engagement Lead