Part of the Etc.
When Gillian Hutchinson started raising money to pay for a defibrillator in memory of her late father she could have had no idea where it would lead.
Just three years on and the David Nelson Memorial Fund is installing its 20th community access life saving device, with a further four bought and paid for and in primary schools.
It’s not what Gillian and her sister-in-law Allison Nelson expected but their original plans just snowballed and no one could be more surprised than the girls themselves.
And it seems the surprises just keep coming as this month their efforts led to a very special royal invite.
Off to Windsor Castle as one of 1,200 members of the public invited to share Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s special day tomorrow, Gillian, who is Head of the Prince’s Trust here at the College, said: “I still can’t believe it. It is just dawning on me now how big this is and to be honest it is overwhelming.”
Gillian and her sister-in-law Allison were nominated for an invite to the special occasion by the Lord Lieutenant of Durham, Sue Snowdon, who had heard Gillian speaking about their amazing work.
Inspired by the loss of her dad, who died after suffering a heart attack, the family started raising money to buy just one device for Hill End in Weardale. They then continued their efforts and went on to buy a kit for every community in the dale.
To date the devices have already directly been involved in saving the life of one casualty and have been called out on standby on numerous occasions.
Stunned by the royal invite, Gillian said: “I was really honoured when I got word that we had been nominated. Just to be nominated was a shock and a surprise.”
When the actual invite came through, the Weardale mum said: “It was a bit of a wow moment and I let out a little squeal.”
But this is not the first time that Gillian has met with royalty.
As head of the College’s Prince’s Trust department she jokingly refers to HRH The Prince of Wales as “Charlie the boss”.
She has met him on four occasions through her work.
And at 17 she was invited to Buckingham Palace after completing her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award where she met Prince Philip and Prince Edward.
Looking forward to Saturday’s celebrations she said: “This is definitely the biggest yet. It’s ridiculous. It really is a once in a lifetime thing!”
Just three years on and the David Nelson Memorial Fund is installing its 20th community access life saving device, with a further four bought and paid for and in primary schools.
It’s not what Gillian and her sister-in-law Allison Nelson expected but their original plans just snowballed and no one could be more surprised than the girls themselves.
And it seems the surprises just keep coming as this month their efforts led to a very special royal invite.
Off to Windsor Castle as one of 1,200 members of the public invited to share Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s special day tomorrow, Gillian, who is Head of the Prince’s Trust here at the College, said: “I still can’t believe it. It is just dawning on me now how big this is and to be honest it is overwhelming.”
Gillian and her sister-in-law Allison were nominated for an invite to the special occasion by the Lord Lieutenant of Durham, Sue Snowdon, who had heard Gillian speaking about their amazing work.
Inspired by the loss of her dad, who died after suffering a heart attack, the family started raising money to buy just one device for Hill End in Weardale. They then continued their efforts and went on to buy a kit for every community in the dale.
To date the devices have already directly been involved in saving the life of one casualty and have been called out on standby on numerous occasions.
Stunned by the royal invite, Gillian said: “I was really honoured when I got word that we had been nominated. Just to be nominated was a shock and a surprise.”
When the actual invite came through, the Weardale mum said: “It was a bit of a wow moment and I let out a little squeal.”
But this is not the first time that Gillian has met with royalty.
As head of the College’s Prince’s Trust department she jokingly refers to HRH The Prince of Wales as “Charlie the boss”.
She has met him on four occasions through her work.
And at 17 she was invited to Buckingham Palace after completing her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award where she met Prince Philip and Prince Edward.
Looking forward to Saturday’s celebrations she said: “This is definitely the biggest yet. It’s ridiculous. It really is a once in a lifetime thing!”
