Page 313 - She's One Crazy Lady!

the craziest hats. It was from that point that she became heavily involved with Crazy Hats. Jan possessed skills we so desperately needed. She obviously had excellent financial experience and was a hard worker who always strived for excellence – passionate that Breast Cancer Services should be constantly improved and support readily available for patients and carers. She opened up a Crazy Hats shop in the Post Office, organised table-top sales, held coffee mornings and was always thinking of different ways we could raise more funds. Jan worked tirelessly and her bookkeeping skills were exemplary.
We were devastated when we learned that her cancer had returned. Jan passed away on May 8th 2008. More devastation came a few years later when we heard via her loving family that Vic had been diagnosed with cancer and he, too, sadly died. For years, following Jan’s death, Vic and his sister and Jan’s nieces always did our Walks in memory of Jan, always wearing ‘unusual’ crazy hats. Jan was to be awarded with a well-deserved posthumous Pride of Northamptonshire Award.
Newly-appointed Marilyn stepped into her shoes
and did a sterling job – even though we would often hear her mumble, “I hate money!” (This was when she couldn’t get bags and bags of loose change to add up!) Working with Marilyn was a joy and brought back memories of our days at school – especially when we always had to clear away her many half-filled coffee mugs at the end of the day – nothing had changed there!
We became very established in our new ‘home’ and every day brought new people, new stories, donations and invitations to various functions and events as well as us organising
our own events, giving talks and
running the Coffee and Chat / Therapy sessions with much support from our volunteers. However, we were conscious that the interior was ‘shabby’ and we were very squashed, so we embarked on a ‘makeover’ and sought sponsorship and help from local companies as well as negotiating with Gary to acquire the downstairs area.
All this began the morning after our 2010 Walk! Were we mad? No. We had a removal firm help us box everything up that we didn’t
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