Family keeps up charity work in Shirley’s memory
Last updated 19:41, Thursday, 20 March 2008
THE FAMILY of a Great Broughton pub landlady and charity fund-raiser who lost her battle with cancer have marked the first anniversary of her death by donating £1,000 to the hospital wards that cared for her.
Shirley Charters’s family split the cash between the Henderson suite and Dalegarth ward at the West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven.
Shirley ran the Punch Bowl Inn at Great Broughton with her husband, Albert, for 31 years.
She died, aged 65, on March 20 last year, after a two-year fight against bowel cancer.
In the year since her death, family and friends have carried on her charity legacy and raised £3,000.
Most of the latest £800 donation came from a charity night at Great Broughton’s British Legion club.
Her daughter, Sharron Rourke, continued Shirley’s passion for knitting and sold hand made dishcloths, while Albert sold his wood-turning pieces to raise another £200.
Sharron said: “Mum used to knit loads of dishcloths for charity. She roped me in once and I’ve just kept doing it.
“It’s helping people with problems like mum had. She would be over the moon that people are still giving money to worthy causes helping local people.”
Albert added: “We’ve already started fund-raising again and have got another £100. The people in Broughton are wonderful. We will keep saving until we’ve got another £1,000 and then we will come back.”
Mrs Charters had worked to raise funds for charities, including Cockermouth Mountain Rescue, Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Air Ambulance and Cancer Research. Her illness did not prevent her from completing a sponsored swim and raising £1,200 for the West Cumberland.
