Jill and Trish are both karate instructors at Ashington Karate Club. Jill was bereaved of her son in 2023. Trish shares why they decided to raise funds for Child Bereavement UK by holding a family event.

The support we received from the fundraising team at Child Bereavement UK was fantastic. They updated us regularly,  offered continuous support throughout with great enthusiasm, and made sure we had everything we needed for the event. 

In October 2023, Jill received the tragic news that her son Gordon was not expected to survive his battle with lymphoma. The shock was immense; after six weeks in hospital the cancer had been cured and he was expected to go home the following week. However, sadly, a chest infection was to prove terminal for his weakened immune system.

Jill managed to fly to his home in Finland to be by his side as he left this world. The loss of her only child was devastating not only for Jill but also for his lovely Finnish wife and two daughters, now aged 4 and 7 years old.

To support Jill, I  messaged her every morning to see how she was coping; those of us who have lost a child know you never get over it, you just get better at hiding your emotions. Jill continued in her role as a karate instructor and the club and all its members showed their support from the beginning with messages, flowers, hampers and cards.

When Jill and I heard that our umbrella organisation the Karate Union of Great Britain had made Child Bereavement UK its nominated charity for 2024/2025, we were only too pleased to organise a fundraising event for an incredibly worthwhile cause.

We decided to organise a family event to include everyone – a ‘walk and talk’ along a beautiful riverside. We wanted to make the event was as inclusive as possible and invited all our students, families, friends, and dogs to join us.

To prepare for the event, we contacted all the club’s members and printed out sponsor forms. We also checked out the walk to confirm its suitability for everyone, including pushchairs, and spoke to the local coffee shop to check it was OK for us to use their premises as our start and finish point. They were great and allowed us to put up banners and flags and leave a collection tin in the shop for two weeks.  

It was an amazing day; the turnout was brilliant and everyone shared their support. The added benefit of the challenge was that everyone came together and enjoyed catching up and getting to know everyone. The feedback was amazing with people saying they really enjoyed walking together as one close group.  

The support we received from the fundraising team at Child Bereavement UK was fantastic. They updated us regularly, offered continuous support throughout with great enthusiasm, and made sure we had everything we needed for the event. We received lots of promotional materials too, such as balloons and flags and we were sent t-shirts which everyone was proud to wear. The charity also offered bereavement support to Jill and to anyone in the group who felt they needed it.

We have just finished collecting the sponsorship money. Usually, we raise £200 or maybe £300 for a nominated charity but this time we have raised an amazing £1,520!

Our advice to anyone else thinking of organising a fundraising event is to make sure it is suitable for all you want to be involved, that way you can ensure it’s something that brings people together to enjoy themselves and support one another.  There are sad moments in everyone's lives and to have support from family, friends and organisations is unmeasurable.