Esme’s Umbrella – the Campaign to raise awareness of Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) – has been given charity status by the England and Wales Charity Commission. This is the first CBS organisation in the world to become a charity.
Judith Potts, who founded Esme’s Umbrella at the House of Commons in 2015 in memory of her mother, will continue to run the organisation alone on a day-to-day basis.
Richard Hawley will remain Patron of Esme’s Umbrella. He is the actor whose Coronation Street character developed CBS and from that experience sprang his interest in helping to raise awareness of this troubling and perplexing condition.
The Trustees of the new charity are:
- Professor Dominic ffytche BSc MBBS MD MRCP (King’s College London)
- Professor Mariya Moosajee MBBS BSc PhD FRCOphth (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, Francis Crick Institute, Moorfields and Great Ormond Street Hospitals)
- Helen Khan (Communications Lead NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre)
Charity number 1197087
