THIS year marks a milestone in the fight against one of the country's deadliest diseases - the brain bug meningitis.

It is ten years ago that Alveston couple Steve Dayman and his wife Gloria founded Meningitis UK - a charity aimed specifically at finding a vaccine for the most common strain of the disease, the B group, from which their young son, Spencer, died, aged just 14 months.

To mark the end of the first decade in this determined battle the Gazette has teamed up with Meningitis UK to launch a campaign to raise enough money to fund the work of a vaccine researcher for the whole of this year.

Our aim is to have raised £40,000 by this time next year. A tall order, yes, but one that we believe will not be beyond the generosity of Gazette readers.

Please support us in this important campaign either by making a donation online by clicking on the campaign logo at www.gazetteseries.co.uk or by filling in the Gazette coupon on this page, by attending a fundraising event later in the year, or by holding an event yourself.

We promise to give every event held in support of this campaign plenty of publicity and every month we will publish the roll of honour of everyone who has made a donation, large or small.

And who knows, the work that is done as a result of the campaign this year could just be that which comes up with the ultimate goal - a vaccine the meningitis B group.

THE idea of losing a child is any parent's worst nightmare, but Steve and Gloria Dayman have dedicated the last 27 years to making sure no parent has to go through it, at least not because of meningitis.

Spencer Dayman was just 14 months old when he died from the brain disease meningitis on November 2, 1982. The disease took hold in just 24 hours.

"We had heard of meningitis and when the doctor said that's what Spencer had I breathed a sigh of relief because I thought great, they knew what he's got," said Steve.

However, little was known about meningitis and the Dayman family found themselves with no-one to talk to after Spencer's death and became desperate to raise the profile of the disease.

"I had two successful businesses at the time and I would put money in collection boxes, but I had never fundraised or sat on any committee before in my life but we wanted to do something positive.

"It was about finding a way to cope with what had happened and helping us to deal with losing Spencer," said Steve.

Two years later there was an outbreak of meningitis in Stroud and the Daymans spoke with other families who had gone through a similar experience to their own.

The couple were soon involved in setting up the Stroud Meningitis Support Group.

"Since then we've always been dedicated to fundraising to help research into providing a vaccine for the disease," said Steve.

In 27 years Steve has walked 25 marathon walks and walked fromone end of the country to the other, Lands End to John O'Groats, three times.

Steve's latest project, the charity Meningitis UK, was launched in 1999 with the single focus of funding research into a vaccine.

He said: "The charity was initially set up to raise £500,000 to provide a dedicated meningitis research unit at the University of Bristol."

The capital programme was successful and the Spencer Dayman Meningitis Laboratories opened in 2002.

"The trustees took the decision that we would continue to fundraise and provide financial support for established meningitis research units throughout the country," said Steve.

In 2007 Meningitis UK launched an appeal to raise £7 million in seven years. The charity believes this amount will generate enough funding to help develop a vaccine for the most common form, group B from which Spencer died.

Several vaccinations against meningitis do exist for meningitis C and pneumoccoccal meningitis and there is also the Hib vaccine, however, there remains no vaccine for group B.

"We believe there is every chance of creating a vaccine. It may not cover all the sub types of the group B but we believe it could be effective enough to reduce the number of cases and also the number of deaths," said Steve.

"To have a company such as the Gazette backing our efforts is going to give a massive boost to us.

"Support and coverage like this is really going to make a difference to reaching our goal. It will also give all our supporters much deserved recognition. We are so grateful to the Gazette," said Steve.

There are many ways to help support the Gazette's campaign with Meningitis UK. Special fundraising packs are available from the charity's website, which include ideas such as coffee mornings and sponsored events. Meningitis UK collection boxes are also available.

During 2009 Meningitis UK is also involved in a number of events including, a Trek of Machu Picchu or the Great Wall of China, the three peak challenge, a coast to coast bike ride as well as various walks and marathons.

For more information contact Meningitis UK on 0117 373 7373 or visit, www.meningitisuk.org