The Annual General Meeting of Take Heart was held in Littlewood Hall in Leeds General Infirmary on Monday evening 10th June. The chairman of Take Heart, Colin Pullan, MBE, announced that the charity has now gone through the Three Million Pounds target, raised during the 24 years in which it has been in operation. Unusually for charities, nothing is paid out in salaries and only minimal expenditure is paid in expenses for the day to day running of the charity. The charity provides everything possible to make the heart patients experience as comfortable as possible. Free bedside TV, free telephone calls and free internet to all heart patients. Equipment, furnishings, décor and even free relatives suites are provided. There were murmurs of disbelief when Colin also announced that, having been with Take Heart since its inception, this was to be his last 2-year session as Chairman and he invited interested applicants to consider applying for the position. He would not be giving up involvement however and would be happy to take an active part as a trustee. Speakers at the AGM included Dominic Schlosshan, Consultant Cardiologist who gave an interesting talk on a new procedure being performed in the Centre with extremely good results. Transcatheter Aortic Valve implementation involves replacing heart valves in patients by “keyhole surgery.” This is beneficial to those patients who would be unable to stand open heart surgery. Dr Greg Reynolds, Clinical Director - Cardiology and Respiratory Medicine then gave a talk on the standards achieved by the Yorkshire Heart Centre and some of the misleading reports which had been circulating over recent months – all of which have been refuted. The Yorkshire Heart Centre has proven to be one of the safest in surgical outcomes in the country, reinforcing its position as one of the centres of excellence in the UK. Bill Stevenson click on pictures to enlarge