Fundraiser reaches record total for Children in Need

AN Omagh man has topped off another year of fundraising for Children in Need having raised more than £24,500 over a decades-long commitment to the cause.

Winston Gilmore, who is a support worker with the Western Trust, once again donned his dog costume this year to raise a record breaking amount armed only with collection buckets.

Winston told the UH, “Way back in 1993 I used to work in the appliance store at the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital and we’d be giving out aids and appliances to vulnerable people and disabled children.

“The amount of people that used to come in to the store saying, ‘I’ve spoke to the nurse looking for this for my child’, and then they hear back ‘we’ve no money for this and no money for that’. In my mind, those are children in need.”

Winston says that while staff at the Trust aims to help everyone, sometimes a lack of resources means not everyone can get the specialist help or equipment they need which is where charities supported by Children in Need can step in.

“That’s what spurred me on at the time and then we just kept doing it,” he added.

For 24 of the 27 years Winston has been fundraising he has been joined by his colleague Roy Graham, but he has since retired his mouse costume.

Before the pandemic, the pair would have taken their collections around the wards but have since adapted and moved to entrances at the Omagh and Tyrone and Fermanagh hospitals.

The new strategy has worked with a record breaking amount raised last Wednesday at
£1,584.

Paying tribute to their efforts over the years, the Western Trust said on social media, “This incredible duo faced all weather conditions including hail, rain and snow but have enjoyed every minute of their fundraising efforts.”

Winston puts his fundraising success down to the trust he has built up with staff, patients and visitors over the years who expect to see him out with his bucket every year.

“I just want to thank everyone who has donated over the years. It’s not my money and I enjoy doing it. It’s the public and staff’s money and I just get it and pass it on to Children in Need,” he concluded.