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How wonder drug is helping parkinson's disease sufferer play the guitar again By Ron Godfrey Parkinsons disease sufferer Derek Edwards performs in his band Time Again A "wonder drug" has allowed a 61-year-old Parkinson's Disease victim to become the rock'n'roll idol he once was. Wilberfoss businessman Derek Edwards has used the new lease of life given to him by the medication to launch Time Again, his own band of ageing rockers. Called L-Dopa, it is the same drug which miraculously brought to life human statues at a chronic care facility in the Bronx who were victims of a sleeping sickness pandemic - the subject of the film, Awakenings, with Robin Williams in 1973. Derek's Time Again has just set 290 visitors - many of them business people in the region - boogying and whooping to the savage rhythms of Wild Thing, Twist And Shout and Route 66. The Music In The Barn gig raised more than £5,500, which will be divided between the Parkinson's Disease Association and the MacMillan Cancer Care. Two years ago, as the disease took hold, Derek was forced to retire as chairman of Wilberfoss-based Inturf, inviting his twin sons, Stephen and Alex, to take over the £5 million turnover business. The worst effect was the sudden loss of mobility in his hand - a terrible blow for a man who in the Swinging Sixties wowed the girls as a guitarist with rock group Simon Martell And The Citymen (a time when he was studying grass, when many around him were smoking it). But then he switched his medication to L-Dopa, and suddenly he regained full dexterity in his hand. He said: "My neurologist said the drug gave me five quality years so I decided to waste no time. At Pocklington Music shop, which specialises in guitars, I posted an advertisement, for other ageing rock n' rollers to help me form Time Again." The response was immediate - largely from other successful businessmen in the region aged between 40 and 60 who dusted off their old guitars and drum kits. Derek, who has three guitars but used his US-made genuine Fender Stratocaster, worth more than £1,000, said: "The gig, held at Inturf, was the idea of my daughter-in-law, Stephanie, and it went down an absolute bomb. I was 18 again. Everyone was amazingly generous. There was even one teetotaller who successfully bid a small fortune for a case of beer." Dressed all in black with white braces, the group socked it to them with their self-penned theme number, Time Is On Our Side, sung to the Rolling Stones hit, Time Is On My Side. All his volunteer band members are coy about revealing who they are. Derek said: "We're not in this for the money or glory but just to have our time again. We intend to play for private parties and to raise money for charities." His wife, June, said: "It was a great gig. I was a Derek groupie in the 1960s and I'm a Derek groupie still." Anna Ttofa, spokeswoman for the Parkinson's Disease Association, described the donation as "fantastic" and said Derek was "an inspiration to other people living with Parkinson's". 5:29pm Friday 8th June 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn