17/07/2026
To All of Our Supporters
I have reopened DWED's social media pages briefly as I felt it was important that I make this statement not only for myself but on behalf of everyone who was a part of DWED either as a volunteer or part of our peer support community.
Sir George Howarth, one of our greatest defenders and father of the late Sian Howarth our General Manager, passed very recently. Much has been said about his political career as the MP for Knowsley and how much he supported the Type 1 community. I am writing this as I wanted people to know just how instrumental he was in the recognition of T1DE too.
A long time ago I was sitting in a patient forum at Diabetes UK when I was informed that there was an open meeting about Type 1 Diabetes going on at Westminster. I can’t tell you how green I was back in those days. I had no education in the 3rd sector, no clue how systemic change happens, no idea of how to engage politically short of posting on the internet and DWED was basically me, a few friends in recovery and my dad. I didn’t even know I could go in to Westminster for this sort of thing. But armed with a cause I was passionate about and a large dose of naivety I took myself off to see what I could learn.
So I’m sitting there, feeling overwhelmed and ridiculously out of place in this meeting when I see this other girl across the room and I remember thinking ‘what are you doing here?’ as while I was feeling very under-dressed in my oversized hoodie she looked equally incongruent with her coiffed blond hair and shorts. Still she was listening and smiling at the man who was speaking, then he said the word ‘Diabulimia’ and I nearly fell out of my chair.
I still remember the feeling of my heart racing and my breath quickening as I realised that our condition, the one that I was recently told was ‘made up on the internet’ had been stated clearly, as fact, by a sitting MP. In that one word, said in that one place, I realised that we weren’t alone. That we had powerful allies I hadn’t even been aware of. Hearing George talk about Diabulimia in Westminster made us real. To be quite honest I can’t really remember what else he said, knowing George it would have been compassionate, intelligent, informed and well spoken. My mind however was racing, preoccupied with thoughts about how on earth I could meet this man.
And so it was at the end of the meeting I kind of elbowed people out the way like some deranged fan to mumble what I’m sure was incoherent nonsense while forcing out my new business card, freshly printed only days before. He stopped looked at it, looked at me and with my heart still in my throat I braced myself. ‘Ah that’s interesting… come meet my daughter outside’ he said with a smile. And so on that day I met two of the most important people in the history of T1DE, Sir George Howarth and his daughter Sian who was wearing the highest heels I think I’d ever seen in my life.
So Sian came on board at DWED and the rest is history. If I close my eyes and really take myself back, I can still remember the smell of George’s office when we went to meet and catch him up about what we were doing and get recommendations for what we should be doing next. George made sure that whenever anything regarding Type 1 came across his desk he was advocating for the T1DE community and DWED were invited to everything. George made sure we were never left behind. We were discussing the eventual Government report long before it started, T1DE was never far away from his agenda. He told me once about being in a meeting with another larger charity, where someone brought up these ‘two mouthy young girls’ who shouldn’t be talking about Diabulimia as it would encourage people to engage in it. I would have paid to be a fly on the wall when he retorted, ‘you want to be careful what you say there, one of them is my daughter’.
Ever our defender, ever our advocate, he opened every door he could for us and this continued long after Sian passed even though I can’t imagine the pain this must have caused. The recognition of T1DE would not be where it is in the UK now without him. His impact was immeasurable. More than that though, he was kind, warm, funny, empathetic and he extended his hand to a shaking, incoherent, weird girl in an oversized hoodie and made her feel seen.
So on behalf of me and everyone who was at DWED, I would like to take this opportunity to send my genuine condolences to Julie and the rest of the Howarth family. And to George, thank you, so much, for everything.
Dr Jacq Allan
Former Managing Director at DWED
