What start­ed as a door-to-door col­lec­tion to help sup­port the NSPCC led to more than fifty years of ded­i­cat­ed fundrais­ing for June Gass.

Over the next five decades until she passed away in Decem­ber aged 88, June and her fel­low fundrais­ers in the Wilm­slow Fundrais­ing Com­mit­tee organ­ised many activ­i­ties in a bid to sup­port the work of the NSPCC. These includ­ed every­thing from bak­ing cakes to send­ing char­i­ty Christ­mas cards, host­ing fundrais­ing dis­cos and organ­is­ing spon­sored swims.

From the year 2000 to 2015, the Wilm­slow Fundrais­ing Com­mit­tee raised an astound­ing £205,000 between them.

Pri­or to her death in Decem­ber, her late-husband’s for­mer law firm Jack­son Bar­rett & Gass were already rais­ing mon­ey for the NSPCC to cel­e­brate June’s 50th year of fundrais­ing. Then, after learn­ing that June passed away, the firm gen­er­ous­ly decid­ed to match-fund the dona­tions, bring­ing the total to almost £2,000.

Rick Bar­row, Mar­ket­ing Direc­tor, said ​“When June asked me whether we would like to sup­port her 50th year of NSPCC fundrais­ing, I didn’t hes­i­tate in agree­ing. June and her late hus­band, Peter, obvi­ous­ly had a strong con­nec­tion with the firm but it was the sheer achieve­ment of tire­less­ly fundrais­ing for 50 years which touched me most.

We raised almost £1,000 through client con­tri­bu­tions last year. Sad­ly, June passed short­ly before I could tell her the amount we had raised, which by all accounts would have giv­en her a great sense of joy. After June’s funer­al & all the fit­ting trib­utes which linked strong­ly to the NSPCC, the Direc­tors agreed it was only right to match the orig­i­nal amount to reflect such a ded­i­cat­ed & tire­less con­tri­bu­tion by June.”

An NSPCC spokesper­son said: ​“We would like to thank the Direc­tors and the cus­tomers of Jack­son Bar­rett & Gass for their gen­eros­i­ty in rais­ing these much-need­ed funds.

The com­mit­ment of June Gass, and the Wilm­slow Fundrais­ing Com­mit­tee, for more than fifty years has helped us reach many, many more chil­dren in need of help through­out the UK. With­out our com­mit­ted fundrais­ers we wouldn’t be able to pro­vide chil­dren with vital sup­port when they most need it and are most vulnerable.”

ends

This arti­cle appeared in Wilm­slow Express 25/05/16