Our History

WAMES was set up in 2001 by local support groups to address the issues caused by devolution and a bilingual society i.e. campaigns held in England did not affect services in Wales and many people could not access information about ME in their native language.

We launched the organisation with an awareness raising event in the National Assembly consisting of an exhibition, information and talks by our Medical Adviser Dr Betty Dowsett (originally from Newport, Gwent), Chris Clarke (Action for ME) and a young person with severe ME. This was the start of our political campaign for recognition of ME and services. Hedd Gwynfor kindly adapted his bilingual website to become the WAMES website and in 2005 we produced our first bilingual leaflet: Pacing for ME & CFS: a guide for patients, by Dr Ellen Goudsmit.

In 2006 we decided it was time to widen our support base in order to fully meet the challenges of the future and so we changed the way we were governed.  A new constitution was adopted which made us independent of the local groups. From that point on people with ME and carers, as well as support groups, from all parts of Wales were invited to join our work as trustees, supporters or volunteers.