Praise as finance staff back charity
THE parents of a Wear Valley tot who lost her hands and toes to meningitis have praised the community for taking their daughter to heart.Tow Law couple Adam and Sarah Lockey need to raise £60,000 a year to provide prosthetic hands for two-year-old Tilly, and now a Bishop Auckland Building Society has promised to raise £750 for their cause.
Staff at the Britannia building society on Newgate Street will hold a raffle to win collectable football memorabilia including a Newcastle United shirt signed by the team and a Manchester United top signed by Michael Carrick. They also have a ball signed by Sunderland and two mugs from the club.
Manager Stuart Hopper said: “We’ve been here two years now and wanted to get more involved with the local community so decided to raise money for a Wear Valley charity. Tilly’s tale tugged on a few heart strings and all of the staff have got children so were very touched by what she’s had to go through.”
The building society aim to sell 1,000 tickets for a !3 each with £250 going to the Alzheimers Society. Stuart said: “We have a corporate charity every year which this year is Alzheimers, but we felt it would be more satisfying to give money to a local charity as it would be more personal to us.”
Tilly’s father Adam, a teacher at Parkside in Willington, said: “Britannia left a message for me at the school so I was a bit worried because it’s never good if your bank phones you. “I was amazed when they said what they were doing and it’s another clear sign of how fantastic the Wear valley community is. When we first came out of hospital we felt the whole world was against us but we quickly learnt how amazing people are, especially around here where everyone has really embraced Tilly and her story.
“Tilly’s doing really well and we hope to get her fitted for her first set of hands in October before she starts at nursery.”
Nearly 100 tickets have been sold since the competition opened last week, and Stuart hopes to reach his target before too long. Stuart said: “We’ve come out all guns blazing and it looks like a lot of people want to win the Newcastle shirt.”
