By RUTH LOGNONNE ruth.lognonne@hexham-courant.co.uk

Published at 09:40, Friday, 05 February 2010

TWENTY three years ago Len and Joan Batey lost their beloved daughter, Paula, to Hodgkin’s Disease – she was just 21 years old.

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Despite their grief, the couple from Bellingham decided to set up a fund in her memory, with just one aim – to fund research into the disease that had robbed them of their eldest child.

Every year since then, with the support of their younger daughter, Collette, loyal family and friends, the Bateys have staged an annual jumble sale in Bellingham.

And every year, thanks primarily to the generosity of North Tyne and Redesdale folk, many of whom still remember Paula, that one event has raised thousands of pounds.

This weekend, however, following the latest sale and with the total raised by the fund standing at almost £135,000, Len and Joan announced they were stepping down as organisers.

Len said: “We’re getting a bit old to do it all now – it’s hard work organising it every year.

“The whole valley has been very generous, and it’s not just the people in the village. On Saturday there was one woman from Stocksfield who came and sold her goods at the jumble sale.”

Paula, a promising cross-country runner who competed for the county, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease in 1984. Sadly she died two years later.

Len recalled: “It all started when she was first diagnosed and everybody sent her get well teddy bears.

“I remember her saying that when she got better she would raffle off the bears, but, of course, that never happened.

“After she died we thought we’d have a jumble sale and it just took off from there.

“The last cheque we gave to Lymphoma Research was for £8,230, and we know the money is going directly to the cause, which is the important thing.

“Paula was a very caring girl and this is exactly what she would have wanted.”

As well as the Bellingham jumble sale, there is an annual bingo night at West Woodburn for the fund, and cash also comes from donations to a wishing well at Heighley Gate Garden Centre at Morpeth.

And the fund-raising has not been in vain.

Since Paula’s death scientists have made huge strides in the treatment of Hodgkin’s Disease in young people.

Head of haematology at Newcastle University Prof. Steve Proctor, treated Paula when she was first diagnosed.

He said: “We can now cure eight out of 10 cases, even when the disease has reached its most severe stages.

“If we catch it soon enough, we have a 100 per cent success rate.

“Ironically, if a girl of Paula’s age got the disease now, they would almost certainly survive.”

He paid tribute to the Bateys and the folk of the North Tyne saying: “People in the Bellingham area have been the most constant supporters of our work of anywhere in the region.

“But you can’t expect people to go on and on, and this couple and their helpers have really given it their all over the years.”

Saturday’s jumble sale made £2,250 for the fund and although it was the last event of its kind, it hasn’t signalled the end of fund-raising in Paula’s name.

Sister Collette is planning on taking over from her parents.

“Our daughter wants to do something different to raise money,” said Len, as he thanked the many people who contributed to Paula’s fund over the years.

And he paid tribute to the staff at Lloyds Bank in Bellingham, who administer the fund for free, and have willingly counted the coppers donated throughout the years.

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk