Fundraising a family affair for the Kershaws

Johnathan Kershaw, the youngest of his siblings, decided to carry on what has become a family tradition and use his presidential position with the St James Markets Association in Bradford, to raise money for The Annette Fox Leukaemia Research Fund.

The fund was launched by the parents of Annette Fox, a Bradford girl who died aged just 17 from leukaemia in 1980.For Johnathan and his brothers, Noel, Tim, Simon and sister Sally, the charity was an obvious cause to support after their late mum, Marie, was cared for by the team on Ward 7 at Bradford Royal Infirmary where the fund is based.

“The ward was fantastic and the staff so there is a bit of a personal interest as well,” explains Johnathan.

It was through the family business, Burbank Produce Limited that the family were able to support the fund which provides financial assistance to improve the comfort and care of patients with leukaemia and other serious blood disorders.

Johnathan explains every year the St James market tenants’ association hosts a dinner dance. The event involves the 42 or so different companies, including their business, within the market.

He says as part of his role as president he has to organise an event to support locally based charities through fundraising and that is when the family pitched the idea of raising money for the Annette Fox Fund.

“We organise an annual dinner and dance which has grown over the last nine years we’ve been doing it,” says Johnathan.

Astonishingly, to date, the association has raised around £90,000 for the Fund in the four years since it started supporting it and Johnathan hopes they will continue to do so.

“It has made such a direct difference,” says Johnathan.

The event, held at the Midland Hotel in Bradford, has many supporters, including the customers and suppliers of the St James Markets Association tenants. Sponsorship of the glossy gala brochure and the generous raffle prize donations they receive help to boost the funds.

Johnathan says among the guests are suppliers who travel from all over the world.

“It is part of our corporate social responsibility,” explains Johnathan.

“You see what difference it makes and they really appreciate it,” he says, referring to the charity’s response to their efforts.

The fund is also supported by local patients, their families and friends along with schools, local organisations, clubs and businesses as well as many individuals.

Currently the charity funds an Annette Fox clinical nurse specialist and also looks after the patients’ well-being by providing the services of an aromatherapist on Ward 7. It also continues to provide much needed specialist equipment, specialist staff training and personal support for patients on the ward.

Over the years the Fund has raised more than £2 million which has all been spent locally to the benefit of local people.

The biggest single project undertaken to date was to provide a specialist unit in Bradford Royal Infirmary for leukaemia sufferers. The Fund raised £650,000 to turn a ward into a modern facility, opened in 1994 by HRH The Duchess Of Kent. In 2007 the Lord Lieutenant Of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe, opened the new day care facilities on ward 7 at a cost of £160,000 provided by the fund.

And in 2011 the Fund provided a significant contribution towards the refurbishment of the Haematology and Oncology Outpatients Department at the Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Jonathon Bentley, the charity’s chairman of trustees, thanked the supporters for their ongoing support and generosity.

“It is a Bradford-based charity – every penny is spent within the Bradford area and I am proud of that,” says Jonathon.