Gosport couple raise thousands of pounds for KIDS family centre

Les Heyhoe, 59, and his wife Lyn live in Vincent Road and spent all of 2015 organising and holding events for the charity in venues across the area.

On February 3, they invited KIDS charity fundraiser Kitty McMonagle to attend the weekly pre-quiz evening at the Five Alls pub to receive a cheque for the final amount.

Lyn organised a guess-the-amount, charging a £1 donation which raised £30 towards their next cause.

The total amount raised came to an impressive £7,186.

The Forton Road pub was selected for the presentation because of the support shown by landlady Paula Hutchinson in hosting the majority of fundraising activities.

Through regular Wednesday night quizzes, Sunday afternoon Mr & Mrs, Play Your Cards Right and a Royal Navy-style horse racing evening, an incredible sum of £3.803.89 was raised in the Five Alls.

Other fundraising activities took place at The Clarence Tavern (£1109), The Carisbrooke, The New Inn, Mayfair Snooker Club, and HMS Sultan.

This amount was gratefully received as it will be put to good use for the KIDS Family Centre at Salterns Lane, Fareham, which urgently requires the special development of an outside area by creating an innovative area and sensory garden, which can then be used in all weather.

Sensory gardens can stimulate the use of all the faculties of young children and those with additional needs, having a benefit on their wellbeing and even helping a process of recovery or readjustment.

Money remaining will go towards or be used to purchase a sensory tent which can then be used indoors as well as outside.

Les and Lyn are now concentrating their fundraising efforts in supporting Gosport teenager Alicia Pannell, 13, who suffers from cerebral palsy and needs a total 
of £32,000 to install a lift into her family home.

For more information about KIDS and the work it does, go to kids.org.uk.