Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Jane Tomlinson 1964-2007


Its all said far more succinctly than I can put it right here so I'll leave the obitury to the BBC and Gordon Brown.

The flag was flying at half mast today on top of the Leeds Civic Hall, centrepiece of local government for this city of ours, as befits a heroine of our region.

I saw her just once last year when she switched on the christmas lights in Leeds and was struck at just how tiny and frail she looked, this was at the time when she had completed her bike ride across the USA and had declared that she would be taking part in no more charity epic rides/runs/swims.

I've done sponsored bike rides, its fooking hard to persuade people to part with money when you're going to flog yourself all day on a bike, they just want to come and laugh at you at the end (and they did for me), so for an individual to raise almost £2million in the seven years since her terminal illness was diagnosed is something so tremendous that I cannot comprehend how I would do the same.

Local radio stations have dedicated their whole output today to obituaries to Jane, her death is felt very sincerely in this city and there will undoubtably be a memorial of some kind to her placed here in the not too distant future.

Jane Tomlinson, 1964-2007 RIP

http://www.janesappeal.com/

3 comments:

DJ Kirkby said...

So sad for her family and that she didnt get to hug her children as they grow up.
p.s. I've left a few comments on Tomato dip, excellent stuff!

Gary said...

Thank you,

Gary said...

Thanks for the kind comments, I've added some background history and a new chapter :)