FOR those who have it, it can be the cruellest disease.

Parkinson's affects 120,000 people in Britain today - and over the next few days there will be an awareness week aimed at helping more people understand the illness.

For York auctioneer Geoff Summersgill, finding out he had Parkinson's Disease was shattering.

An active person, who was up at 7am every morning to run his shop, Summersgill's Antiques, in Acomb, and an avid golf player, Mr Summersgill said the slowing down of his movement caused by Parkinson's hit him the hardest.

He said: "I have always lived life in the fast lane. But now if I am sitting behind a desk the brain is all right, but the body is slow. This has been hard to deal with."

But the intrepid 69-year-old has refused to be beaten by the disease. Since being diagnosed, he has toured around the world, visiting Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.

Mr Summersgill joined the York branch of Parkinson's Disease UK when he was diagnosed. He said meeting other people with the disease had helped him to come to terms with it.

He said: "Parkinson's comes at the wrong time of life when it hits you in your 60s, and you get depressed and scared. You need to speak to people who are experiencing the same as you, because it's a bit of an unknown quantity."

Peter O'Reilly, chairman of the York branch of Parkinson's Disease UK, has been working to raise awareness of the disease in York, to enable sufferers to speak to others about coping and dispel myths among the public.

He said: "Most people think it's an old man's disease, or a tremor, or some just think your brain is deficient."

Mr O'Reilly was diagnosed with Parkinson's ten years ago, an experience he describes as "devastating".

He said: "I felt really sorry for the nurse who had to tell me. I was 50 at the time, but she told me to sit down and then said I'd had Parkinson's since I was 47.

"You find most people with Parkinson's, including myself, do not want to go (to society meetings) as you get scared of seeing older people in terrible states."

But he said his work for the society had been an important part of his coping strategy.

Mr O'Reilly has planned a series of events in York to mark Parkinson's Awareness Week.

They are:

Saturday: Information day at the Salvation Army Citadel in Gillygate, where there will be a Parkinson's specialist nurse from 10am to 3pm

Sunday: Service at St George's Roman Catholic Church in George Street

Tuesday: Quiz and auction at the Phoenix Inn in George Street. There will be a raffle and prizes include whisky and hampers

Friday: Music night at the Holgate Working Men's Club, New Lane, with three youth jazz bands

Saturday, April 21: Street collection in York city centre.

To pledge your support contact: peter.oreilly8@btinternet.com Fact file l What is Parkinson's Disease?

Parkinson's is caused by a loss of nerve cells in the brain which affect movement like walking, talking and writing. It is treated by different courses of drugs l How many people have it?

One in 500 people have Parkinson's Disease, and there are 120,000 sufferers across the UK 8,000 people have Parkinson's in Yorkshire, and almost 400 in York itself