A CHARITY film night in Bowness aims to raise funds for a clinical drug trial.

The Association for the Independence of the Disabled (AID) is holding the event at the Royalty Cinema.

The evening’s entertainment will feature The Titfield Thunderbolt film and mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington will be in attendance.

Mr Bonington, a patron of the charity, will launch the Flying Wurlitzer which emulates the many organs which rose from cinema stages in the 1920s.

Organs of this type were developed to accompany the silent movies of the day, as one organist could replace a whole orchestra.

The evening’s entertainment is being staged to raise funds for financing the trial of a drug identified by researchers at Lancaster University as being one that may prove beneficial to sufferers of Motor Neurone Disease.

The drug, liraglutide, was originally launched to benefit people with Type 2 diabetes. Researchers at Lancaster University believe that this drug, already licensed for use within the UK, may have beneficial properties for people suffering from neuro-degenerative diseases.

As a result of the work at Lancaster, trials have started on its suitability for Alzheimer’s disease sufferers and, thanks to fundraising by AID and cooperation from the Motor Neurone Disease Association, a pre-clinical trial has now been jointly funded.

If successful, this will lead to a full clinical trial of the drug and AID is anxiously working on raising sufficient funding to meet the costs of the major clinical trial.

The film night will take place on October 19 at 7.30pm. For further information, please telephone AID on 015394 48459 or email paul@dday.org.uk.