Welcome!

We are very glad to have you as part of the North Hampshire coeliac group, whether you are a newly diagnosed coeliac or have been diagnosed some time.

Our group was formed in 2018, and although we mainly cover North Hampshire, we also have many members in Berkshire and Surrey. We have around 800 members, from young children to adults aged 90+ and plenty in between.

Our aim is to support coeliacs in our area in any way we can. To do this we endeavour to organise regular events for members. Events in the past year have included both virtual events (eg. dietitian talk) and in-person events (eg. coffee mornings, summer picnic, Children's Christmas party, Christmas meal and more). You can read our past newsletters on the North Hampshire page of the Coeliac UK website (https://www.coeliac.org.uk/local-groups/north-hampshire/), and that's where you will also find details of the events we are planning. This year we are once again organising a Christmas meal at BCoT and Children's Christmas Party near Basingstoke - details on our website.

For those of you who are new to the gluten free diet we know from personal experience that this can be a real challenge to start with, but we would like to encourage you that it does get easier and there are plenty of people who are able to help you get used to it.

Coeliac UK is a really good organisation to be involved with. If you haven't already explored their website it's well worth doing so. It's full of useful information and their dietitians are available to give advice on all sorts of coeliac-related issues. The Coeliac UK Food and Drink Directory and the Coeliac Food App are also very useful when shopping as it can help identify foods that are suitable for our diet, and those where cross-contamination is a risk. Being part of a local group can be helpful too, as you get to know people who have also had to get used to living without gluten, can appreciate the challenges and get tips on things such as where a good place is for Coeliacs to eat.

If you have been recently diagnosed, please do email us if you would like to join a video call for a chat with other newly diagnosed members, facilitated by some of our more experienced coeliacs. Alternatively we are happy to arrange a one-to-one chat if you prefer. Please note we can only share what we have learnt from our own experience and are not qualified to provide any medical advice. Therefore it's important that you speak to a medical professional for any medical questions.

With best wishes from all of us on the committee.

Margaret, Keith, Lesley, Gemma, Carol, Faye and Sue

Email: northhampshire@coeliac.org.uk

Website: https://www.coeliac.org.uk/local-groups/north-hampshire/

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/NorthHampshire

(Please copy the hyperlinks into your internet browser if they don't work as expected when you click on them)