A huge thank you to Pam Ainsley who has single handedly raised £765 for the South Cleveland Heart Fund. Pam is a photographer and put together several images that she had taken of Vin onto a postcard. She then travelled to as many folky events as she could, selling them for £1 each, so you can see just how many she has sold. Here is a pic of her presenting the cheque last Saturday night at the Heart Fund's 25th anniversary event. The postcards are still available. If you wish to donate contact Pam at pam@pamainsley.co.uk
Below is the full story...
"A great evening was supported recently at the Middesbrough Football Club for the 25th Anniversary of the South Cleveland Heart Fund, based in Middlesbrough.
Members of the South Cleveland Heart Fund are all volunteers and every penny raised goes to keep our regional heart unit at the leading edge of advances in heart patient care, providing items and equipment and services as an alternative to the NHS funding.
The late Vin Garbutt was treated at James Cook University Hospital over a period of time and had much praise to the team who looked after him. He actually gave a radio interview describing his gratitude to the team. Vin had been on the Folk scene for many years and was much loved in our area as elsewhere around the world.
Pam Ainsley owner of Hopes and Dreams Photography and folk follower, had taken some images of VIn at the Saltburn Folk Festival a few years before he died. Having heard his previous interview, she thought it would be a good idea to try and sell some of Vin's images to raise money for the South Cleveland Heart Fund to help others. Vin's family gave Pam permission, having first seen the images and agreed that Vin would have been happy with the idea. Pam planned the folk events to cover. Vin was loved everywhere for his music.
Pam produced 1000 postcards and visited 7 local folk events /festivals selling the postcards at £1 each with permission from the local clubs. Everyone loved Vin. The cards displayed a selection of his 'on stage' images and raised the final sales total of the cards to £625. Pam presented the cheque to the Chairman of the South Cleveland Heart Fund, Dr Adrian Davies at the 25th Anniversary Event.
On a more personal note to Pam, her husband Barry required a quadruple Heart bypass in 2014 where it was carried out at James Cook University Hospital. Her husband went on to have some complications of his leg and was loaned a specialised machine from the hospital where he needed it for a 3 month loan. "We found that this specialist machine had been provided by the South Cleveland Heart Fund" says Pam . "Without the machine we are unsure what the outcome would have been". "That equipment meant so much to us and goes to prove we never know when any one of us will need that support". We are so lucky to have the South Cleveland Heart Fund progressing with equipment and new techniques in surgery, that otherwise we would not normally have available in our area.
Pam has since also sold another £140 of her work to make her final total for the fund to £765.
Anyone still wanting any of these postcards or to make a donation, please contact Pam who can give you further information. pam@pamainsley.co.uk"
