A month of fun days for fundraisers in fancy dress
FRIENDS DRESS UP IN 30 DIFFERENT COSTUMES TO HELP GIRL WITH RARE ILLNESS
WHEN it comes to fundraising it’s usually the wackiest ideas that work best.
And two friends of a woman whose daughter is fighting a rare life-limiting condition have completed one of the craziest of all.
Tina Kershaw and Cathryn Bartram are still recovering from spending EVERY single day of April wearing a different fancy dress.
From attending parents evening dressed as a sumo wrestler, to having selfies with the bin men while dressed as Princess Leia,, the pair have been every kind of crazy character throughout the month.
And the cause? To raise money for their friend Jenny’s three-year-old daughter Florence Croce.
The brave youngster appeared in the M.E.N. back in March when we reported how the rare genetic condition GM1 has stripped her of her first precious words.
She can no longer say her first words of ‘mama’ and ‘Cardo’ for big brother Riccardo, she struggles to get around and will eventually lose her ability to walk, talk and swallow.
Her parents, Jenny and Domenico, from Stalybridge, have been told she’s unlikely to live past the age of 10 and are now pinning their hopes on Florence being accepted for clinical trials in America. Tina and Cathryn said they wanted to do all they could to support Florence’s fund and managed to rake in more than £15k for their efforts. Tina Kershaw, 39, lives in Bramhall with children Fin, eight, Nell, two, and husband Ian. From to a family day out at Bramhall Park where they all dressed as the Flintstones to dressing as David Hasselhoff from Baywatch for her son’s swimming lesson, it’s been a full-on month. She said: “My son and I took the tram into Manchester when I was dressed as a whoopie cushion. “On my last day in work I was Britney Spears. My boss at Pulse Media gave me £200 and my colleagues donated loads. “On Saturday lots of shops in Bramhall joined in and we raised loads more money. As a result of this we had a anonymous donation of £2.5k.” For Cathryn, 38, who went to Manchester Met University with Jenny but now lives in Leicestershire, it was an equally bizarre month. The mum to Layla, eight, and threeyear-old Lucille, said: “Some highlights have been attending nursery parents Cathryn Bartram Princess Leia evening as a sumo wrestler and turning up at the pub to celebrate my birthday as the Queen of Hearts and being surprised by my friends all dressed as a pack of cards.”
Florence’s mum Jenny said: “I’m absolutely blown away by it all. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that they would raise so much.
“I just love that while I am so aware of why they are doing it that they’ve made people smile – that in a time of so much heartache they’ve made people smile everyday and want to log on to Facebook to see what they are wearing.
“It really does go to show that anyone can help and do the littlest thing to make a difference.
“They didn’t spend any money on costumes they were all borrowed off friends and family.
“This money will make such a massive difference to Florence’s journey.
“I couldn’t have been prouder of them.”
To donate visit www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/fundraisingforflorence.