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JULIE HELPS HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE THROUGH HER OWN GRIEF
In 2014 , Julie Lawson from Crosby was devastated by the deaths of her parents just 7 weeks apart , her Mum to dementia and her Dad with Alzheimer ’ s .
Needing a way to deal with her feelings , Julie , who had already been raising money for Alzheimer ’ s charities , threw herself into fundraising , supporting organisations with thousands of pounds . Last year her contribution was recognised when she was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen ’ s Birthday honours list .
Where did you begin ? I had always helped out and fundraised where I could . Even back in 2005 when our youngest son Neil joined the air cadets , when we saw they had little funding and not enough money to keep them afloat for another year ; we joined the committee and started fundraising events in the hut and local pub .
With quizzes , karaoke nights and BBQs , the extra cash enabled us to replace furniture for them and allowed the boys and girls to apply for funding off the committee so they could do residential courses . We were very proud of them .
Then Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer ' s . As you can imagine , it was a pretty stressful time . My Nanna ( dad ’ s mum ) had had it and we had no knowledge of how far back it went in our family .
That started us fundraising for that cause , with evenings at the local pub which built up to sell out nights raising around £ 1500 per night . Finding that venue was becoming too small , our local Crosby Comrades club allowed me to put on fundraisers and we were regularly raising anything from £ 1500- £ 3500 . We just thought we were helping other people like us .
Things sadly changed in 2014 though , didn ’ t they ? We lost Mum and Dad less than two months apart . I was heartbroken . It was devastating losing them so close together . I had to do something to channel my grief , so I poured myself into my fundraising .
We thought we ’ d hold a gala ball at Formby Hall Golf Club in memory of Mum and Dad which we did in 2015 . With match funding I was chuffed to bits that we raised about £ 12,000 for Alzheimer ’ s . We reached the same amount two years later in 2017 , this time for The Woodlands Hospice in memory of my friend ’ s sister .
The following year in November , I was delighted to hold another charity ball in the stunning Cunard Building in Liverpool . This one was again for Alzheimer ’ s , and we raised a massive £ 30,000 . I was absolutely astounded !
Tell us about your lightbulb moment ? I have been incredibly pleased to have raised that amount of money for charities that are very close to our hearts , places that support research into this illness . But I then wanted to do more to help support people living with Alzheimer ’ s , their families and their carers .
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