Family heartache spurs Chesterfield teacher to launch yoga festival on Chatsworth estate in aid of charity that supports sufferers of rare Huntington's Disease

Fay Froggett-Brown, who lives in New Whittington said: “About six months after I qualified as a yoga teacher we discovered that Huntington’s Disease was in my family. It wasn’t affecting just one family member, but multiple. I’d seen a grandparent die of the disease without knowing what it was and as soon as we found out, I knew that I wanted to do all I could for this community to help us through the dark times of watching loved ones succumb to this horrible disease.”

Huntington’s Disease is genetic and affects approximately 7,000 people in England and Wales. Its symptoms mimic Alzheimer’s, Motor Neurone Disease and Parkinson’s.

Fay, 38, said: “The charity Huntington’s Disease Association supports any and all people affected by the disease, providing online resources through social media and their website as well as regional specialist advisors across England and Wales, who you are able to call and chat to for support and advice. I decided to try to fundraise for the charity so that they can continue their important work.”She has organised a Festival of Yoga on July 29 at the Cavendish Hall, Edensor on the Chatsworth estate.“The Festival of Yoga started life as a yoga marathon – 12 hours where I would be sponsored to do yoga non-stop," said Fay. “It soon morphed into about 15 hours of yoga, mindfulness and meditation sessions delivered by fellow yoga teachers from across the UK sharing their love and joy of all things yoga open to anyone to attend! There is something for everyone, including family yoga, chair yoga, mindful eating, yoga outdoors and finishing with an hour’s yoga nidra, or yogic sleep, which equates to four hours of “normal” sleep.”

The festival will begin at 5am with sunrise yoga and picnic breakfast outdoors. A full day’s ticket costs £35 or £5 for each session. Book online at www.fatfrogyoga.co.uk

Fay, who runs yoga sessions in Inkersall, New Whittington and Bolsover, took up the meditative practice about 11 years ago. She said: “I had been assured that it would help eliminate my clicking joints. It didn’t. But what I did find through yoga was a practice that connected me in with my body in a way that I’d been missing my whole life until that point, helped me to appreciate my body in all its various phases but also helped me to understand myself a whole lot better than I already did.”

After qualifying as a yoga teacher in 2018, she launched Fat Frog Yoga and Mindfulness with a mission “to help those who wouldn’t necessarily think of yoga as a form of exercise or self-care, those who struggled with mobility and self-esteem and those who needed help with their mental health but didn’t know where to begin,” said Fay. “I provide the community with tools to help them. I continue to follow my mission in the best way possible and I think part of helping others is to do a spot of charitable work, which is why I’m supporting the Huntington’s Disease Association this year."