Family's memories of Beadle's
kindness
Swindon Advertiser
www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk
1st February 2008
By Avantika Bhargava
He may be remembered by the nation as the man who played pranks on television,
but a Lyneham family say Jeremy Beadle also had a heart of gold.
The 59-year-old You've Been Framed and Beadle's About
star died of pneumonia on Wednesday.
But Lorraine and Victoria Black say their memories of
Jeremy's kindness will never be forgotten. Lorraine, 44,
and Victoria, now 13, met Jeremy eight years ago in Hyde
Park at an event organised by the charity Children
with Leukaemia.
Lorraine took Victoria to London to support the event
a year after her two-year-old daughter Jessica died of
leukaemia.
"My family and I were invited to the Great Children's
Party," said Victoria.
"It's basically a yearly
event to give sick children a great day out. It was there
that we met Jeremy. After
Jessica died, mum decided to do lots of fundraising to help
children and their families like ours. When we were
invited to the Hyde Park event she decided it would be a
brilliant opportunity to raise money
for Children with Leukaemia by auctioning celebrity memorabilia.
She wrote a letter, planning to give it to the celebrities
at
the event, explaining the idea and everything." Lorraine handed the letter out at the event but missed
her chance to give Jeremy Beadle a copy. Luckily a security
guard offered to take the letter to him.
"Jeremy came out of the VIP tent to talk to us," said
Lorraine. "He thought the letter was lovely and said
he would be happy to help.
"We talked and he took us into the VIP tent and we
met other celebrities there. He asked me where I worked,
and I told him I worked at the Swindon greyhound stadium.
He told me about an event he'd done at the Walthamstow
greyhound stadium in London where people raced their pet
dogs and suggested I do something similar."
Jeremy agreed to support the event by being there on the
day. Lorraine sponsored a race at the charity event, called
the Jessica Rose Black Race, in honour of her daughter,
and raised £4,000 for Children
with Leukaemia. Jeremy
spent the day on the race track and didn't charge any fee
for his work.
Lorraine said: "We cannot thank him enough for helping
us and many other families through his work. He helped
in any way he could and he was always extremely supportive.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family at this sad
time."
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