Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 16, 2014 in 2014, Book sale, Claire Prosser
Ruth, front row, second from left, and team.
More than £1,600 was raised at a book and cake sale in memory of Claire Prosser and Tom Clabburn at the BBC’s New Broadcasting House on Monday, December 15.
Claire’s close friend and colleague, Ruth Akins, organised the event: “Claire was due to run the sale in memory of her son, Tom. The Friday before Claire died, she was concerned about the sale and I had promised her it would be fine. I never thought I’d be running the sale in her memory as well as her son’s. “
All the money raised will go to the re-named Tom and Claire’s Fund, which supports the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young.
Ruth continued: “It was astonishing to see how many books Claire had already collected only weeks ago from her former 5 Live colleagues at BBC North. With help from various people from around the BBC, we had more than 300 books on sale.
“We also had a large number of delicious cakes to sell too, thanks to the generous bakers we had in our midst. An extra thanks goes to Lorna Donlon who, as at previous sales, has always provided us with the most gorgeous cakes. “
Helpers from within the BBC were joined by Claire’s close family friends and Ruth said: “I think they found some comfort in meeting Claire’s colleagues and hearing their happy memories of her.
“Nothing will bring Claire or Tom back to us but running events such as this helps us keep their memory alive and continues their legacy.”
Claire’s husband, Paul Clabburn, said: “I was very touched but not the least surprised when Ruth said she was going to carry on with the book sale as a tribute to Claire. That’s Ruth for you. Claire and Ruth were a brilliant professional team and very close friends and Ellen and I would like to thank Ruth for her support over the years.
“We are also, as ever, astonished by the number of helpers that Ruth has listed below – we are extremely grateful to everyone for their time and commitment. Thank you.”
Organising/Book collection and delivery – Gillian Dear, Geraldine Ryan, Romello Arulanandam, Matthew Turner, Isabel Turner, Gina Bentley, Dave Bentley, Kate Riley, Sandy Smith, Elaina Boateng, Suzanne Yates, Jessica Latimer. With special thanks from Paul and Ellen to Annie Flury for so many years of organising the 5 Live books.
Cake providers – Victoria Lee, Jane Kinghorn, Lorna Donlon, Geraldine Ryan, Dhruti Shah, Ruth Akins, Ronnie Macfarlane, Jane Saunders.
Book sellers – Sue Ellis, Jane Kinghorn, Sam Upton, Alison Lobo, Jacky Hems, Sue Howells, Isabel Turner, Felix Turner, Anna Eastment, Kate Riley, Gina Bentley, Suzanne Yates, Phil Thomas, Chandrika Kaviraj.
Cake sellers – Mariita Eager, Victoria Lee and Dhruti Shah. “Mariita was the queen of cake selling – they were sold out by 1:30pm and we didn’t finish until 3pm,” said Ruth.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 12, 2014 in 2014, Claire Prosser
Tribute outside Munson’s coffee shop, Ealing. Photo by Vicky Pearson.
Thank you for coming to Claire’s celebration.
We had the service that we hoped for. Your support gave us the resolve to voice our tributes.
To those who sent kind words and apologies for not being able to join the family, we thought Ellen’s photo montage, set to music, might give you a sense of the celebration. Each song meant something to Claire.
Click to watch here.
Thank you for all the messages. We read them all, even if we cannot reply to all – there have been a lot! If you want to send us your memories of Claire to add to those we have already received, please do so. It helps.
As for us, we feel that the message outside Claire’s second home sums it up.
Enough said.
Paul and Ellen x
Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 2, 2014 in 2014, Claire Prosser
Ellen and Claire: “Better hair than her daughter.”
Raconteuse, wit, journalist (old school), good companion, simply the best wife and the unique Mumma Bear. Above all a beautiful spirit and a woman of great courage. For the good times. All my love, Paul. Love you lots like jelly tots, Ellen.
Thank you for all the support. In the days and weeks following the loss of Claire, it will give us great comfort. We read your messages even if we don’t reply.
This site will change to become the Tom and Claire Fund. It will be the site on which we post information in the coming days.
We are going to arrange the biggest damn celebration we can for CP. It will be at St Paul’s Church, Ealing, and we will post the date on this site when we have it.
Claire’s great wish was that Tom’s Fund should raise £100,000. We’re nearly there, it’s raised more than £90,000 since 2008. So if you would like to make a donation to what is now the Tom and Claire Fund you can do so here.
In the meantime, we’d be really grateful if you didn’t call us directly and please don’t send flowers. If you were thinking of doing so, that’s very kind of you but we’d rather it went towards a donation.
Once again, thank you for all the support. Let’s do CP proud.
Paul and Ellen xx
Posted by PaulClabburn on Nov 27, 2014 in 2014, Tom Clabburn
… free heart screenings for more than 1,100 young people since 2009.
Happy Birthday Tom. Love you x
Posted by PaulClabburn on Nov 10, 2014 in 2014, Awareness, CRY screenings
Claire with the CRY team, from left to right Kate Dougal, Helen Budding, Sue Brown, Gareth Jones, Rob Sargent, Claire, Dr Vincent Gabus and Bev Katigbak.
Eighty-nine people were seen at the latest Tom’s Fund/CRY free heart screenings for young people aged 14-35 on Sunday.
Three people were referred for further tests after the event at Florence Road surgery in Ealing.
Claire said: “We’re glad the day ran smoothly and would like to thank the CRY team for all their hard work. We also received nearly £200 in donations on the day which is very generous. Finally, we very much appreciate that Dr David Evans and his team once again allowed the surgery to play host to the screenings.”
Posted by PaulClabburn on Nov 9, 2014 in 2014, Awareness, Cardiac Risk in the Young, CRY screenings
Dr David Evans, centre, of the Florence Road surgery greets members of the CRY team.
The Tom’s Fund/CRY free heart screenings for young people aged 14-35 are taking place today in Ealing.
The event, hosted by the Florence Road surgery in Florence Road, Ealing, is fully booked.
As ever, the event couldn’t take place without all those who have supported us by fund-raising. We’ll update later on how the day went.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Oct 28, 2014 in 2014, Donations
We’re had many donations over the past three months via Justgiving and it’s time to say “thank you”.
We are grateful for the generosity and support of (in chronological order of donation):
Sonja and Richard
Bev
David
Helen
Grange
Nicky,
Isabel
Jayne
Peggy
Tony and Kathleen
Lucy and Gileas
Richard
Jeremy
Much appreciated and helps us to plan our 2015 Ealing screenings with CRY.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Oct 13, 2014 in 2014, Awareness, Fund-raising event
Ben at the finish.
BBC news presenter Ben Brown successfully completed his first half-marathon and raised more than £1,000 (including gift aid) for Tom’s Fund and CRY on Sunday, October 12.
Ben, a CRY patron, took part in the Royal Parks Foundation half-marathon and said: “I’m thrilled to have completed my very first half marathon for CRY and in memory of Tom Clabburn who tragically died seven years ago.
“Thanks to some very generous donations, I raised more than £1000 for CRY – and completed the race in a decent 1.49.21. The weather was fine, the route beautiful and the training with my running mate Rob really kicked in!”
You can still support Ben here.
