A COFFEE morning in memory of an inspirational upper dale woman has raised more than £1,800 for cancer research fundraisers.
Margaret Thompson, who continued to impress friends and family with her creativity and determination after being left partially disabled by a stroke in 2011, died in June last year aged 75.
To celebrate her life her widower Alan collaborated with Middleton-in-Teesdale fundraiser Nancy Coll to arrange a coffee morning to boost funds for the Teesdale branch of Cancer UK.
It was also the last event to be organised by Ms Coll who is retiring from fundraising and £1,837 was collected, thought to be a record for a coffee morning in Middleton.
Ms Coll said: “Talk about going out with a bang. When Alan rang and gave me the final amount, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was just unbelievable.”
Her previous record had been about £1,100 through an event in March in aid of the village football club.
The bulk of the cash was raised through the raffle which boasted 64 prizes donated by businesses from the village as well as Barnard Castle.
Ms Coll extended her thanks to those who gave prizes as well as those who supported on the day.
Mr Thompson said it was a fitting tribute to his wife who was diagnosed with leukemia almost a decade after suffering the debilitating stroke.
He said: “Poor lass she had struggled with a serious stroke in 2011. Despite that she picked herself up. She could hardly walk but she still used to come to The Witham and do ballet classes. I met some of the ladies and they said they had found out that this lady who’d had a stroke was coming for ballet and if she could do it they could.
“When Margret decided she’d had enough I had this phone call to tell her to carry on because she had been the inspiration to get them going.”
Ms Coll, who had been a friend for more than a decade, added: “Nothing held her up, she was a lovely woman.”
