In Memory of their Nan, Pauline

After the loss of their Nan, Danielle, a teacher, and Paige, a NICU nurse, wanted to do something in honour of her memory, whilst also giving back to the local community. Their Nan, Pauline, dedicated an amazing 12 years service with Royal Voluntary Service and often talked about how she enjoyed volunteering with all the friends she made at the Charity.

“Our relationship with Nan was a long distance one. Nan lived in Wales and our family live in Essex. Despite the distance, we always knew that Nan was there whenever we needed her. She would chat on the phone for ages and ask both of us how work was going and what we had been up to since we last spoke.

Danielle says: “Nan celebrated 10 years of service with Royal Voluntary Service during the first lockdown and eventually received her recognition award on 12th May 2021 before she died. She was overjoyed to receive this award, which is now in the care of her daughter”.

With the long distance between us we unfortunately didn’t get to see Nan on a regular basis (thank goodness for FaceTime!) Despite this as a child, I remember visiting Nan during the summer holidays and spending time with her at the beach, walking around the lakes and skimming stones across the river near to where she lived.

Nan came down to Essex for significant family events such as mine and my sister’s graduations, my parents 25th wedding anniversary, my sister’s wedding and both my parent’s 50th birthdays.

One event that stands out is my graduation. Nan travelled 260 miles from Wales to be able to share this incredible experience with me, despite the fact she could only watch me graduate on a TV screen outside the ceremony. It was a proud day for her as I was the first grandchild to graduate from university.

“We decided to climb a mountain and what better way to start than by taking on the one on Nan’s doorstep”

In her honour, Danielle decided to set up a hiking challenge In Memory page and decided to raise money by climbing Snowdon with her sister Paige, and her brother-in-law Joe.

“As a child, climbing Snowdon was something I always wanted to do whilst visiting Nan but never really got the chance to do it. The challenge initially came up in discussion with my best friend who was a great support to me when everything happened with my Nan’s illness and passing. The idea of climbing Snowdon came from my memories of wanting to climb it as a child and as we were both turning 30 this year, we thought it would be a great way to celebrate my Nan’s life and kickstart the new decade!”

Danielle and Paige climbed Snowdon as a mark of their Nan’s passing and achieving this goal for her, whilst also raising money Royal Voluntary Service.

“I think Nan would be incredibly proud of us for doing this challenge. I believe she would feel honoured that we are doing it in her memory whilst raising money for fantastic charities that she supported and worked with over the years”.

Donate in memory of Pauline