Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2013 | Page 22

most. It's not that the other charities are not as good, because
they are, it's just that I am a loud, quite passionate person and
I hope that rubbed off on the rest of my team.”
Karen said it was a sad day when it was time to say her
goodbyes and walk away from the EMH. She reflected:
“Do you know what? I am very sad. No way did I want to
leave but perhaps it was time to leave. Perhaps they do need
somebody to raise more money and perhaps I had been
there too long. Realistically perhaps that is right, but I am
heartbroken really. Everything is your baby. I don't want it
not to succeed but the thought of someone else doing my
baby...
“Of course there will be someone else, but probably not
as crazy as me. I hope they do find someone, and it's just
building up a relationship with people. I am passionate and
I don't want people to stop supporting the Hospice. I see
the care which goes on in there, and with my own mum, so I
don't want it to close. I want it to continue. We have got to
support the supporters.”
Karen has promised she will be back for her ‘Walk the
Wight’, adding: “I don't know whether I will actually walk
it, but maybe it's an opportunity to walk it. Or perhaps they
could push me around in a wheelchair, over those hills, and I
could hand out water!”
Karen may have left her EMH duties behind her, but
she still has plenty of ambitions for the future. She said
emphatically: “I am not going to lie down and do nothing - I
am not retiring yet. I have had lots of people approach me to
ask if I would help them out and I am just sitting down at the
moment and thinking about the next challenge!”
Walk the Wight, which in 2009 alone raised £360,000, the
biggest ever sum for one event. She said: “When I first began
we had 2,000 walkers, now there are over 11,000.”
She never took anything for granted during her fund-raising
missions, saying: “The bulk of the money comes from the
general public; the £50 donations.
You go along to anything because
those people continue to support
you year in, year out.”
She continued: “When I first
started we had a following but not
as big as we have now. The fun is
finding new events like abseiling;
looking at different things to
interest different people.
“You couldn't do the job if you
thought ‘I can't do it this week
because we have got to raise
£10,000’. If you went to work
thinking that you wouldn't raise
anything. You have to be positive.”
Karen openly admits that raising
so much for EMH is sometimes
to the detriment of other local
charities. She said: “I do feel
sorry for other charities but it was
probably because I am louder than
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Karen is holding a leaving party at the Dairyman's
Daughter, Arreton Barns on Friday November 1 at
7.00pm and would like to invite all her friends along...
ps. sadly it's not a free bar!
Top: Karen pictured with Andrew Gibb
Bottom: Karen with Vikki Cooney