A young woman from Wordsley had to endure every parent’s nightmare of losing a child at birth hopes ti raise £45k for Russells Hall Hospital.

Aimee Garrett lost her beloved Ronnie back in June and was so surprised that there was only one private bereavement suite at Russell’s Hall hospital that she pledged to do something about it in Ronnie’s memory.

Despite her grief she spoke to the bereavement team who she described as wonderfully supportive from the start and with huge support from her colleagues at Dudley College where she is employed she set about raising money for a second suite.

She requested help from former Councillor now Alderman Steve Waltho who is well known for his fundraising exploits and Steve’s son Joe is the fiancé of Aimee’s sister Emily. Steve said:

“When Aimee first approached us it was a no-brainer in terms of helping her and our admiration for her determination to succeed in memory of her dear son was really touching.

”However there’s a long way to go as we’ve been informed that somewhere in the region of £45,000 will be required for the project to become reality”.

Since her crusade began a host of events have included a packed curry night event at the Crystal Balti in Wordsley, coffee fundraisers at the college as well as a JustGiving page. The Saleem Foundation headed by Councillor Shaz Saleem also donated £1000.

The latest event was a truly wonderful community together affair. Close friend Tammy Glyptis lives in Tiled House Lane Pensnett and arranged a rather chilly Christmas street party with an appearance by Santa and over 100 residents turned out raising a staggering £1260. Tammy added:

“Something we’ve always prided ourselves on in our cul-de-sac is the warm community spirit which we never take for granted. As soon as we learned about Aimee’s Ronnie & Friends Appeal we immediately set about staging our event to raise money for this wonderful cause”.

Aimee is determined to eventually reach her goal and has other ideas in the pipeline including climbing Mount Snowdon sometime in April.

You can support her appeal by simply googling JustGiving and searching for Aimee Garratt. If you wish to help with the appeal, or donate by other means please contact Steve Waltho on 07703 308 463.