I hope you are looking forward to the Christmas break and some time with loved ones after what has been a challenging year for us all. 2021 has, I think, been the busiest yet for Fifth Sense. We have achieved a great deal, in spite of the difficult circumstances created by the ongoing pandemic.

In November we delivered our biannual national conference which was a real success. It was great to be together in the same room with people again and having three of the world’s leading smell and taste scientists fly over to attend the event in person felt like a huge achievement after everything that has happened over the last two years. I would like to thank our speakers, everyone who attended in-person or virtually, our sponsors GSK, Medtronic and Sanofi and the team at the Hotel Brooklyn in Manchester for making the event such a success. Preparing for the conference provided me with an opportunity to look back and reflect on the progress we have made as an organisation and community in the two years since the last event and I wanted to share a few highlights of what we have achieved over the course of 2021.

We have continued to deliver on the plans for which we are being funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, launching a raft of new resources including a completely redesigned website, suite of information sheets and new videos.

We have grown our volunteering team, welcoming new members to our Ambassador programme. We have also strengthened our already highly capable trustee board, welcoming Robert Meadowcroft, who brings a significant amount of experience as former CEO of Muscular Dystrophy UK.

We have brought together over 1,000 Fifth Sense members on our #LetsTalkSmellAndTaste virtual sessions and delivered a range of webinars for healthcare professionals.

We have successfully delivered the Smell and Taste Disorders Priority Setting Partnership to establish a set of research priorities, an inclusive process that brought together the experience and expertise of Fifth Sense members, your families and clinicians.

I would like to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to our work in 2021, and please join me in thanking Nina and Dan, our staff members, for all their hard work during some difficult times. They have both been fantastic.

We are now at another exciting stage in our evolution with the Fifth Sense board’s recent decision to recruit a Chief Executive to drive forward the development of our charity and its work. The vacancy can be viewed on our Current Vacancies page by clicking here  and I would please ask you to share it with anyone you think may be interested in the role. We are also looking forward to releasing the ‘top 10 priorities’ for research into smell and taste disorders, as chosen through the Priority Setting Partnership. These will be announced in the new year at the heart of our new research strategy which is being developed under the expert leadership of my fellow trustee Prof Carl Philpott.

I am sure 2022 will be an exciting year for Fifth Sense and our cause and we are looking forward to going on that journey with you. I know these are difficult times for many people but we will be incredibly grateful if you would consider making a donation to support our work. Donations of any size help us in all sorts of ways; they’ll contribute to the development of a research fund, allow us to deliver more education to health professionals and also reach and help more people. You can donate safely and securely by clicking here to donate via our Wonderful page.

Thank you very much indeed for your support. I hope that you and your families have a safe and enjoyable Christmas and a relaxing break after all the difficulties we have faced this last year. I will look forward to being in touch again in the new year.

Duncan Boak
Chair and Founder