Parky Petition - Over £100,000 signatures and rising!

Mark Mardell
Jul 17
2 min read

We did it – 100,000 signatures!

Woohoo! Congratulations. We've actually done it.

A huge well done to everyone who's helped us get this far and thank you, thank you, thank you to every single person who signed. It’s a brilliant achievement.

Honestly, there were times we didn’t think we’d make it. But we have and it matters.

Because this is a *means to an end*, not the end itself.

It should mean a debate in Westminster Hall – a chance to push the Parky Charter into the spotlight and demand real action. As the petition says, to get those decisive five steps set out in *Movers and Shakers* moving – and to fulfil the Health Secretary’s promises.

So we need to keep the momentum going. Start by writing to your MP about the debate. Tell them why this matters and tell us what you think the next urgent steps should be.

The Parkinson’s community has begun to get used to the novelty of having its voice heard and is not going to retreat back into silence. It’s not over till it’s over – and even then, it’s not over until we implement the Charter and improve life for everyone with Parkinson’s.

And even then, it’s not over until we find a cure.

Much love,

Rory, Gillian, Mark, Nick, Paul and Jeremy

See Rory's thoughts on reaching this momentous achievement here.

Some special mentions go to....

Anna Gottesleben

Anna had the genius idea of heading to Wimbledon in her Parky Charter T-shirt and targeted the ticket resale queue with huge success. She said "The Wimbledon campers are a friendly bunch. Everyone I asked signed or at least I think they did . I chatted to lots of great people. Most of them knew someone with Parkinson's, which is scary/ interesting in itself. I chatted to a physio and an Occupational Therapist who work a lot with people with Parkinson's. They now know about the podcast and will talk to their clients about it! "

David Reid

David Reid has been incredibly busy boosting signatures for the petition. As well as putting up QR code flyers around his village, he also donned his Parky Charter T shirt to attend a monthly car club meeting and is pictured below at Dunbar RNLI Festival.

Angie Gooden

Angie Gooden from West Sussex went to her local Parkinson’s Group wearing her new Parky Charter T shirt to spread the word about the petition and chat all things Parky Charter with her local MP’s. Angie said “With the help of my local group in Worthing West Sussex, I got a lot of leaflets printed and handed them out to the local leisure centre, the Parish Hall, the doctors, dentists, and our local supermarket. Our members also have handed the leaflets out around their local area too. I have given the link of the T-shirts to some of our members as well. This is very important to me as I have young onset Parkinson’s and my father did too.”

Margaret Smith

Margaret Smith from Deal, Kent wore her T-shirt to her Parkinson's exercise class and collected signatures for the petition from fellow class members as well as the staff behind the desks! Great job Margaret!