Donations roll in for Princess Ellie’s Trust from Kier North Tyneside

Published by Rachael Hunter for Kier Services in Housing and also in Communities, Health

Kier North Tyneside is helping to raise awareness of meningitis and money for research into the deadly disease by donating £1,000 to local charity The Princess Ellie’s Trust. 

The Trust commemorates Ellie Long, who died of meningitis in August 2010 when she was just two years old. Ellie had shown symptoms of the illness, which is classed as very dangerous due to its quick onset, just six hours before she died. The Trust set up in her name was chosen as charity of the year for Kier North Tyneside in January 2011.

Every Friday Kier employees took part in a dress down day and donated money to the cause to participate. At Easter team members held a raffle as well as an Easter egg and Easter bonnet decoration competition. Other fundraising events have included a bowling competition, moustache growing competition and a sponsored walk.

Every week six families face the sudden tragedy of losing a loved one to meningitis, the inflammation of protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, which kills around 300 children and adults each year in the UK.

The Princess Ellie’s Trust, which was set up in September 2010 by Ellie’s parents Rachel Skene and Daniel Long, raises money for the Meningitis Research Foundation to help develop a vaccine against group B meningitis. The Trust has raised more than £36,000 to date, with donations also going to the paediatric intensive care unit at Newcastle General Hospital.

Kier regional director for maintenance, Mike Furze, said: “We were delighted to support such a worthwhile cause - raising awareness of the symptoms of this killer disease and the need to react quickly can mean the difference between life and death. With 63 per cent of our staff coming from the local area, we wanted to support a local charity which would really benefit from our donations. We are currently in the process of selecting a charity to support in 2012 and again we will be looking to back a cause which will make a real difference to the lives of local people.”

Ellie’s mother Rachel commented: “The onset of meningitis is extremely quick and unfortunately this is why we lost Ellie. The money raised will be going to the Meningitis Research Foundation and the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, both working to put an end to such tragedies and we are all so grateful for the kind donations from the Kier team.”

For more information about the Princess Ellie’s Trust or to donate please contact princesselliestrust@yahoo.co.uk