PRIDE OF THE COTSWOLDS 2019: Meet your Charity Fundraiser of the Year finalists

Dr Marie Owen

Dr Owen worked as a paediatrician in Gloucestershire for 35 years so has always had an interest in helping children.

Following her retirement in 2015 Marie set up the Chamwell Centre Charity.

The Chamwell Centre, in the grounds of The Milestone Special School in Gloucester, will support the needs of disabled children and adults across the county.

Dr Owen has so far raised £4.3million towards the cost of building and running the new centre.

She was nominated for being ‘a passionate believer in enabling all to access sport, no matter what their level of disability’.

Sharon Scrivens

Sharon has helped raise more than £250,000 for Cancer Research UK after setting up Cirencester’s Relay for Life in 2017.

She has been fundraising for Relay for Life since 2001, becoming a team captain at the Portsmouth event after her father, Alan Carpenter, died from leukaemia the year before.

Sharon then set up the Cirencester event after losing her son, Ashley, to melanoma in 2014.

“I’m very passionate about Cancer Research UK. It’s a lovely event. We honour those we have lost and support those fighting it now,” she said.

The person nominating Sharon said she had ‘worked tirelessly in the community to raise funds’.

Paddi Spruyt

Stroud would not quite be the same without Paddi (above right).

A big supporter of Longfield Hospice, she is rarely seen on the town’s streets without a collecting bucket in hand.

The 93-year-old has belied her age on several occasions to take part in the hospice’s charity walks.

Speaking about Paddi earlier in the year, Ali Russell, chief executive at Longfield Community Hospice, said: “Paddi is a massive supporter of Longfield Community Hospice and without people like Paddi raising funds for us then Longfield wouldn’t survive.

“She is really important to us.”

Winners will be revealed at a ceremony on September 26.