A grieving daughter is seeking to promote awareness of Parkinson's Disease by running a competition for a pair of free tickets to a glittering ball.

Michelle Ware lost her mother Vera Padley to pneumonia brought on by the disease in January last year after years of illness during which Mrs Ware had seen her mum decline from a glamorous, active woman to someone who could barely speak or move.

She has organised a ball in her mum's memory to be held in the Royal Suite of the Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells, with the proceeds going to support Parkinson's UK. The event starts off with a prosecco drinks reception and includes a three-course meal, entertainment and dancing.

There will be live music from The Swing Thing and a disco. There will also be games of Heads and Tails, a raffle, silent auction, and a banned word jar on each table.

Mrs Ware, 49, said: "The idea is that every time someone on the table says the banned word they have to make a donation - it's just s a bit of fun."

Mrs Ware will give a short talk on how devastating Parkinson's can be.

She said: "I knew so little about it myself; I'm sure many people are the same.

"When Mum was diagnosed in 2005, I just thought 'oh its just the shakes, nothing too serious'.

"Instead for 14 years I watched her decline and every bit of her personality was gradually stripped away.

"In the end, she would start to walk, then just freeze as though someone had pressed the pause button, completely unable to move further."

The illness was all the more devastating for the family because Mrs Padley had previously been an extremely active person - salsa dancing, line dancing, doing aerobics and doing all her own decorating and gardening.

Mrs Ware said: "She had always been so glamorous, ever since she was declared the Tonbridge Coronation Queen at the age of 21."

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition for which there is currently no cure. It affects 145,000 people in the UK with two new sufferers diagnosed every hour.

Mrs Ware said: "My mum loved dancing. She met my father at a ballroom dance in Tonbridge. So a ball seemed the perfect way to honour her memory."

The symptoms include muscle stiffness, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, memory problems and dementia.

Tickets for the spring ball cost £65 per head, or £585 for a table of ten. To buy tickets, call Mrs Ware on 07809 382 362.

Mrs Ware is giving away one pair of free tickets to the winner drawn at random of a contest to answer a simple question about Parkinson's.

Entrants must be over 18 and must attend the ball in person. The winner will be selected on Monday, March 25.

For the chance of free tickets, she wants to know: How many people in the UK are affected by Parkinson's?

Answers to vpspringball@icloud.com

For more details about the ball visit: https://tinyurl.com/veraball