Batman Brian

A Blog by Brian Carson 2 April 2026

All Opinions are my own.

My 2025 highlights

Volunteering / Parkinson’s events

Since my diagnosis I have been increasing my volunteering activities for the Parkinson’s cause. Volunteering was not something that I had contemplated previous to my diagnosis, family and work were always my focus and not always in that order, which is something I am not proud of. I had a successful career in engineering but this involved long hours and much time away from home. This hits home sometimes when I am having fun with my granddaughter and I cannot remember similar experiences with my own children. I am not saying they were neglected but if I had my time again family would always be the priority.

My volunteering activities in 2025 were many and varied.

I support the coordination of the Glasgow Young Onset Parkinson’s Support Group and Chair the monthly meetings of this group.

I continued to support the weekly Drumchapel TT sessions which began in 2022 and continue to go from strength to strength.

I supported the Parkinson’s UK/Table Tennis working group which strives to involve more TT clubs in Scotland in providing opportunities for PwP to play.

I worked with the International Table Tennis Foundation, (ITTF) improving the ranking system for people with Parkinson’s participating in Table Tennis competitions.

My role as a Trustee for Parkinson’s UK continued into a third year and involved many varied activities. A few highlights are listed below

March

I attended a Parkinson’s UK all-colleague event in London for over 600 staff of the charity. In addition to meeting many of the staff and hearing some inspirational speakers I helped to present awards to those who have gone above and beyond in their daily roles.

I appeared in a video produced by the Parkinson’s UK Scotland Parkinson’s Active Team to help educate coaches, instructors, trainers etc how to work with PwP when coaching/training physical activities. I

April

I attended a Parkinson’s UK Scotland function at the Scottish Parliament designed to inform MSP’s about the benefits of physical activity for PwP and to request these activities be made more widely available. I gave a short presentation on my experience of physical activities and the physical, mental and social benefits they provide.

June

The North of Scotland Research Interest Group held a conference in Aberdeen. ‘Look North: Parkinson’s Research in the North of Scotland and Beyond. Again some inspiration speakers and positive messaging about some great research projects.

July

I supported a Parkinson’s UK function at the Westminster Parliament to engage MP’s on the government’s newly announced 10 year NHS plan for England. This plan does not fully support the needs of the Parkinson’s community, eg one thread advocates a change of focus from treatment to prevention. For some conditions this makes sense, but there is no method to prevent Parkinson’s at this time. There is also the potential to reduce the number of Parkinson’s “Specialist” medical staff in favour of more “general” staff at a time when the numbers of people being diagnosed with Parkinson’s is increasing rapidly. The session also focused on changes to benefits which in some cases could be a disadvantage to PwP.

August

Hosted Sandesh Gulhane MSP at Drumchapel Parkinson’s TT session to highlight the benefits of TT for PwP

September

I supported Parkinson’s UK Scotland staff and volunteers in delivering a Young Person (YP) Event in Stirling, This was an information session describing and demonstrating the wide ranging help and support the charity provides to PwP of working age.

I chaired the Scottish Parkinson’s Table Tennis Annual General Meeting and will continue as chair for another year. The organisation will continue to work closely with Table Tennis Scotland to develop table tennis opportunities for people with Parkinson’s and focus on continuing to stage the Scottish Parkinson’s International Open at the Sportscotland National Sports Training Centre. This competition has received many compliments from players from the UK and Europe and is firmly established in the Parkinson’s TT competition calendar.

October

Edinburgh Annual Parkinson’s Lecture, Dr Agnete Kirkeby on stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s Disease. As always a very interesting and thought provoking lecture on stem cell therapies for Parkinson’s Disease. It was great to see Parkinson’s Table Tennis player Andy Cassy appear in one of the slides. Andy is taking part in a stem cell research project.

Parkinson’s UK Scotland Volunteer thank you event at Stirling. A great afternoon with a fantastic group.

December

I attended a reception at Salesforce Tower in London. This was hosted by Parkinson’s UK to thank dedicated supporters and donors for their support of Parkinson’s UK in 2025.

Table Tennis 2025

2025 was my busiest year to date for table tennis events and when I add trustee and volunteering, activities plus my exercise routine, family commitments, social life etc, it can become too much. Sometimes I need to remind myself I have Parkinson’s and occasionally say no to requests; I like to be busy but also need to look after myself.

Germany – Eystrup  A fantastic weekend social and TT event organised to perfection by Lars Rokitta.

Germany– Oldenberg -PPP German Open. A big event with a lot going on. This event received some criticism for having too many players, tables being too close together, etc. It easy to focus on the negative but the remit was to provide an inclusive event where everyone who wanted to play could play. This was achieved by a very committed team of volunteers who deliver every time.

Brighton – a great first Parkinson’s tournament for this club in sunny Brighton and for me the opportunity to play doubles with the Leeds Lobber Rob Cooke.

Belfast – a quick visit to meet the team at Lisburn Parkinson’s TT sessions and play some games to help them prepare for the Scottish International Open in August.

Inverclyde – The third Scottish International Open, it gets better every year

Switzerland – Zurich, A long weekend socialising and playing a friendly at the SwissAir Table Tennis Club.

Spain Alicante – A week long training camp in the sun run by the Nordic Table Tennis Team, Marcus and Anton, supported by the great Mikael Appelgren . Hard work in the mornings and plenty of R & R in the afternoons and evenings.

Italy – PPP world championship in Logarno Sabbadiora, I even managed to fit in a tour of Venice.

Sweden Helsingborg –  ITTF world championship. I had the pleasure of playing in a Parkinson’s Showcase event during the European Para Championships.

Physical Activity

This is often a casualty of my volunteering activities, especially when I travel for meetings and events. I do miss the activities when that is the case. I am disciplined in trying to make up for non-attended sessions, but at the same time because I participate in many varied sessions I do not “beat myself up” when I miss a few.

The exercise recommendation for People with Parkinson’ is a minimum of 2.5 hours a week of “vigorous” activity. My weekly exercise/activity time is between 14 and 18 hours.

A week includes – 3 to 5 table tennis sessions,  Pilates, a PD focussed physio led exercise class, 2 sessions of walking football (one of which is a full on running game), and in the last couple of months 1 to 2 boxing sessions. I have previously stated one of the outcomes from playing walking is discovering that I am still able to run. One of the outcomes from the boxing sessions is that I have discovered I can skip!

With less travelling my target for this year I hope not to miss very many sessions.

Part 2 End