A widow’s tireless campaign to help a North Wales cancer unit has been given a £4,000 boost from a housing association.
When Linda Jones’ husband Gwynn died at 63 she pledged she would raise money to help other cancer sufferers by buying equipment for the cancer centre at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, in Bodelwyddan, where he had received excellent treatment.
The charity first set up in his name, now known as the Snowdrop Appeal, has raised about £75,000 in the last six years and this November 72-year-old Linda from Pentraeth, Anglesey, will finally draw a close on her fund-raising.
Welsh-speaker Gwynn, a native of Cemaes, was an IT teacher at Coleg Menai, where he, and English teacher Linda, both taught for 23 years, mainly at the Llangefni site.
Staff at Cartrefi Conwy, the housing association that took over Conwy Council’s housing stock in 2008, selected the Snowdrop Appeal as their nominated charity because they felt it was a cause that could help local people dealing with cancer.
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor and contractor G Purchase Construction Limited, Andrew Bowden, Chief Executive of Cartrefi Conwy presented Linda with two cheques.
Andrew explained: “The staff at Cartrefi Conwy selected the Snowdrop Appeal because they felt it would benefit local people.
“Staff and tenants have helped raise around £300 on top of which I am very pleased that our partners at G Purchase Construction have also seen this as a worthwhile cause and matched a £2,000 cheque to the Snowdrop Appeal that was recently received by us from an anonymous donor.
“Staff helped raise funds for the Snowdrop Appeal from a Christmas raffle and tenants at the summer family fun day last year also contributed when they entered the balloon race.”
David Purchase, Managing Director of G Purchase Construction said: “We’ve been working very closely with staff and tenants at Cartrefi Conwy over the last 18 months as part of the improvements programme we’re delivering to the Cartrefi Conwy homes and I am very happy that we’ve been able to support the local community by contributing to such a worthwhile cause.”
Linda said “The money raised by Cartrefi Conwy and donated by G Purchase Construction has provided a real boost.
“I’m especially pleased that the team at Cartrefi Conwy have agreed to continue to support the Snowdrop Appeal until I close it in November this year.”
Mother-of-three Linda describes Gwynn as a “shy, self effacing man, loved by everyone”.
He stepped down from full-time employment because of health reasons and within three weeks of returning to work part-time it was discovered he had leukaemia.
Gwynn endured years of treatment at Ysbyty Gwynedd, in Bangor, during which time it was discovered he had developed skin cancer.
His treatment at Glan Clwyd’s radiotherapy department Linda describes as “wonderful” and Gwynn himself was so impressed he said he would like to get them a gift.
His death in 2004 saw a huge turn-out at the funeral where £1,000 was given in donations for the radiotherapy unit, and the seeds were sown for Linda’s fund-raising campaign.
She not only wanted to raise cash but at the outset she wanted the charity to raise awareness of the plight of cancer sufferers, who were missing out because North Wales had not got the CT scanner technology other regions had – something which was addressed by the Assembly.
Backed by a “small army of helpers”, Linda has managed to buy equipment which helps with the running of the cancer unit’s two new CT scanner virtual simulators.
