GENEROUS court staff at the Warwickshire Justice Centre in Leamington have raised more than £2,000 for children’s support charity Molly Olly’s Wishes.
The Hatton-based charity was founded by solicitor Tim Ollerenshaw and his wife Rachel in 2011 following the death of their daughter Molly who had been diagnosed with a Wilms tumour.
In memory of Molly, who was just eight when she died, the couple say they wanted to help children and families who did not have the emotional support they had received.
Molly Olly’s Wishes supports children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses and their families, as well as granting individual wishes and providing therapeutic toys and books both directly to children and to hospitals.
For the past two years the court staff have chosen Molly Olly’s Wishes as the charity they wished to support through a variety of fund-raising endeavours throughout the year.
In the last 12 months the staff have raised a total of £2,019 from events including organising a ‘cake bake,’ a quiz, and a Christmas raffle – with hardly a solicitor or barrister using the court centre avoiding buying ticket.
And in a presentation at the court, Rachel Ollerenshaw received a cheque from one of the fund-raising organisers, crown court clerk Jen Radford.
Rachel said: “We are very grateful as a charity to the Justice Centre staff for doing this, not only for the money they raise, but for increasing awareness of Molly Olly’s Wishes. It really makes a difference.”
And Ms Radford added: “We’d like to thank everyone who’s supported our fund-raising efforts over the past year by baking and buying cakes, taking part in the quiz and buying raffle tickets.
“But we’d really like to give a special thank you to all the local shops, businesses, restaurants, cafes and other traders who kindly donated prizes for the Christmas raffle.
“Without their support for the annual raffle, which last year raised just over £1200 alone, it wouldn’t be so successful, and we hope they’ll continue to help us this year as we again try to raise funds for Molly Olly’s Wishes.”
