A GROUP is raising awareness of a muscular disease.

The Myasthenia Gravis Association Wiltshire Branch is marking the Rare Disease Day with a chance to find out more about the condition.

A soup lunch will be held at Collingbourne Kingston Village Hall, off the A338 Marlborough Road, from 11am until 2pm, on Thursday.

Guests will include Louise Gethin, advisor from the Southwest Neuromuscular Network, and John Mason, chairman of the MGA Somerset and West Dorset branch.

Mr Mason is also a Reiki Master so will also talk about his healing work and one to one with members.

A quiz and a sales table will raise funds for future work.

Everyone is welcome to come, especially anyone with a rare disease and their carers.

Myasthenia Gravis is an auto-immune disease where the body’s immune system attacks itself, which impairs the ability of the nerve to cause muscle contraction thereby weakening the voluntary muscles that control the eyes, face, throat, limbs and muscles the help us breathe.

The cause is not known.

One in 17 people are affected by a rare disease – 3.5 million people across the UK – and this is the sixth awareness day.