Georgia Fourie Butterfly Fund marks 10 years of helping special Burnley school

Holly Grove School pupil Georgia was just nine-years-old when she died in 2009 after many years of poor health.

Inspired to preserve her memory and help her peers and other children at the specialist Burnley school, Georgia's parents Mel and Tim Fourie set up The Georgia Fourie Butterfly Fund which has since raised thousands of pounds.

Mel has hosted several Butterfly Balls in memory of Georgia to raise money for the charity, and she is still deputy chairman of the charity.

Teachers, family and friends are now preparing to mark the 10th anniversary of the chartity with a special fund-raising night on Friday, October 18th at Rosegrove Unity Club at 7pm.

Katie Wood, from Holly Grove School, said: "We are celebrating 10 years of the Georgia Fourie Butterfly Fund with a fund-raising evening to celebrate.

"There will be live music, pie and peas supper, raffle, auction, quiz and a staff dance. Tickets are £5 per person and can be bought on the door. We are hoping this will be our biggest event yet as our charity has been going for 10 years now and we have helped so many children.

"We want to continue helping many more children for years to come. Our focus this year is to raise money to set up a nurture room at school, to help with our pupils' wellbeing and mental health.

"We want to provide a safe, secure, familiar place for our children to be able to go to when they are feeling particularly vulnerable or if they need extra support. We aim for this to be a ‘home from home’ at school where children feel comfortable to talk, play and learn with fully trained staff they trust.

"Thanks to previous donations we have been successful in acquiring a seven seater vehicle to be able to transport pupils in the local community and we were able to take some of our Key Stage 1 pupils on a residential trip to Blackpool and some of our Key Stage 2 pupils to Bendrigg Lodge for the weekend."

To support the fund visit https://www.justgiving.com/georgiafouriebutterflyfund