A national honour for Judy and Bryan’s ‘pop-up’

Bryan and Judy Hammans have been running their one-day-a-year ‘pop-up restaurant’ for years after their grandson Lewis was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.

Now, the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign has recognised their hard work and commitment by honouring them with its Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Charity Champions award.

The couple were presented with the award by the charity’s president, BBC Sports star Sue Barker MBE, at a ceremony at its national conference in Nottingham recently.

As part of the citation, the campaigning organisation said Judy and Bryan had not only raised ‘invaluable awareness’ of a group of rare devastating muscle-wa#]sting conditions but had also welcomed people into their Balcombe home to do so.

The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign funds groundbreaking research into treatments for muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions and supports the 70,000 families in the UK affected by them.

Judy and Bryan transform their home into their very own stir-fry noodle restaurant each October.

Friends and neighbours from the village dine at their kitchen table or pass by the back door and pick up a takeaway.

The event is always a red letter day in Balcombe and raises more than £1,000 every year for the charity.

Chief executive of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Robert Meadowcroft said: “Opening up a pop-up restaurant in your home is a creative and challenging way to raise vital charity funds.

“Judy and Bryan have helped us to fund research and support for families affected by muscle-wasting conditions, and by welcoming their community into their home they have also raised invaluable awareness about the work that we do and improved people’s understanding of muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular conditions.

“They are truly deserving of our Charity Champions award.”