On Saturday 8th September 2012 Jean and Laura Johnson decided to hold a coffee morning in memory of Jean’s husband and Laura’s father, Ian Johnson. They raised a wonderful £790 for the charity and had a fantastic day in his memory.

“Our first ever coffee morning to raise money for CRY was such a huge success, we are already planning our next one!

It was held on a sunny Saturday morning on 8th September 2012, in Lanchester Methodist Church, County Durham, in memory of my husband and Laura’s father, Ian Johnson, who died from Brugada Syndrome in 1999 at the age of 39.

The idea came from my friend Denise Blackburn, who looks after the Church and adjoining Church Hall. It started out as an ordinary coffee morning with homemade cake stall, then ideas came rolling in of other ways we could raise money.

In the end, as well as homemade cakes, we sold generously donated nearly new shoes and bags, books, bric-a-brac, costume jewellery and homemade ginger beer. Friends and family worked really hard behind the scenes collecting things to sell, baking cakes, manning the stalls and serving teas and coffees.

We all had a fantastic day and the fact that we made £790 for CRY was an added bonus. The amount we raised totally exceeded our expectations and one thing’s for sure, it couldn’t have been done without the dedication of good friends and family and the generosity of the local community.

We are all looking forward to our next Coffee Morning in the near future, and in the meantime many of us are joining in the Durham Riverside Walk on Saturday 6th October, hopefully raising more funds and awareness of the excellent work CRY does. Fingers crossed for better weather than last year!”

Jean and Laura Johnson