People power! Celebrating our campaigning achievements

On 9 September, passionate campaigners across the UK came together to celebrate our successes from the past year. 

They shared ideas on how to grow our campaigning community and make our campaigns even bigger, bolder and more impactful.

Campaigners share their experience

The theme of this year's conference was 'people power'. We heard from both new and seasoned campaigners about their experiences and what motivated them to inspire others to campaign for better support and services for people living with Parkinson's.

The conference was chaired by Nicky, a campaigner based in Sheffield, who shared her experience with campaigning on Blue Badges and time-critical medication. 

She also shared her experience attending the Conservative Party Conference in 2025 and meeting with MPs and peers as a representative of the Parkinson's community.

Nicky said: 
"I felt that the conference provided a refreshing outlook and context for Parkinson's campaigning activity for the coming year. This was based around showcasing some exciting success stories from the past 12 months' activity across the UK. It was a particular pleasure to listen to the Q&A session at the conference which was hosted and made up of volunteers. They enthusiastically shared a free-flowing number of positive examples of activities with which they had been personally involved.

"The breakout room activity also helped to keep the enthusiastic momentum alive, with many sound suggestions about ways to encourage participation by new campaign volunteers.

All in all, a great conference!"

We also heard from campaign volunteers Nic, Mike, Lisa and Garry about their campaign successes and tips to make campaigns successful.

• Nic lives in Sunderland and has been involved in campaigning for better health services in the area. 
• Mike lives in Lancashire and has been involved in awareness campaigns about Parkinson's with his podcast. 
• Lisa lives in Nottingham and has campaigned for greater Parkinson's awareness to improve health services and has also successfully engaged with her MP. 
• Garry lives in Edinburgh and has been involved in putting Parkinson's on the agenda of the recent Scottish Parliament elections.

Growing the campaigning community

After the panel discussion, volunteers discussed in small groups what activities they could do to grow the campaigning community. We heard some fantastic ideas such as posting on social media about their campaigning and encouraging people to join the Campaigns Network. 

They also shared how Parkinson's UK can support them.

Thanking campaigners 

The conference was a fantastic opportunity to reflect on our successes from the last year and thank volunteers for their dedication and passion. 

David Newbold, Director of Community said:
"Change doesn't happen by chance, and for the Parkinson's community, we see change happen as a result of the tireless dedication of our Campaign Volunteers. From all across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, Campaigners have challenged unfair processes, exposed service gaps, and made the true, daily reality of Parkinson's unignorable. Thank you to all our Campaign Volunteers for leading the fight and driving real progress."

• Watch our 2026 campaigning successes video on YouTube.
• Watch a recording of our Campaigner Conference 2026 on YouTube.

We'll share more news on what you can do to help grow our campaigning community soon.