Julie reflects on emotional
FUNDRAISER WAS AMAZED BY AWARDS FINALE
A charity champion – who was moved to tears when she won a trophy from the Sunderland Echo – has looked back on the Best of Wearside Awards night and said: “I was proud to be there.”
Julie Reay has raised tens of thousands of pounds in her 17-year fundraising mission which started after she tragically lost her son Peter in 2002 when he fell from a makeshift rope swing.
She set up the Peter David Lane Trust Fund, and her sterling efforts were recognised at last year’s Best of Wearside Awards where she won the Fundraiser of the Year category.
Julie said: “I was proud just to be nominated and to take part in the evening, never mind winning.
“It is an honour in itself that someone sat down and took the time to nominate me. I feel very humbled.”
Julie said she enjoyed the evening and said: “It is a very special night, especially listening to the stories of all the other nominated people.”
She has continued her fundraising work since the awards and said her annual Boxing Day dip had raised £62,000 alone, not counting all the other fundraising initiatives she is involved in.
But she took time to encourage people to enter this year’s competition and said: “It is lovely to give people that little bit of recognition for what they do.”
This year’s competition has backing from headline sponsor BGL Group, partner sponsor Gentoo and category sponsors Stagecoach and Calsonic Kansei.
We thank them all for getting on board and now comes your turn to get involved.
Send your name, address and telephone number, as well as your email address, if applicable. Remember to include the category you are putting your nominated cause into.
Also send the name of the person you wish to nominate, along with their address, telephone number and email (if known). Send all of that to Lynn Wild by no later than mid-February.
You can nominate in any one of three ways.
Email those entries to lynn.wild@jpimedia.co.uk.
Send them to Lynn Wild, Alexander House, Second Floor, Rainton Bridge Business Park, Houghton-leSpring, Sunderland. DH4 5RA.
Visit the website at https://www.bestofwearside. co.uk.