Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

'Our' Barry White Fan Club' is a circle of friends whose friendships spans over 25 years!  'My First, My Last, My Everything' soon became our anthem thanks to a local DJ whose dance floor we would frequent on a Wednesday night as we met up to let our hair down and enjoy some fun times together.  Not only have we partied, holidayed and fund raised together we have also shared tears and heartbreak as we faced some dark times that life has thrown our way.  Still all these years later we hear Barry's intro and off we dash onto the dance floor to create some hustle that we picked up from the 90's show Ally McBeal, it's the little things that keep you smiling through!

On the 10th March 2020, one day before her 55th birthday we lost one of our circle......our beautiful Ingrid Chandler.

What an incredibly courageous, strong and amazing woman our dear friend Ingrid was.  She was Wife to Chris and Mum to Amber and Jack and well known locally as the owner of Chandler's Cafe in Banbury.  Her feisty nature matched her red hair and her resilience was simply incredible.  Always thinking of others she paid us all individual visits in January dropping off cards and flowers, thanking us all for our friendship and support 💕 How she smiled through her illness melted our hearts and we are all so very proud and privileged to call her our friend.  In the weeks leading up to her death Ingrid was moved to Katharine House Hospice where we were all able to visit her to say our goodbyes and let her know how loved she is.  What an amazing place Katharine House is, with the most incredible and compassionate people looking after the welfare of its patients in the darkest of times.

Katharine House provides specialist palliative care for adults with life-limiting conditions across North Oxfordshire, South Northamptonshire and South Warwickshire.

As well as providing end of life care, they also offer support for symptom management and pain relief.  People need emotional and spiritual support too, so professionals can help here. 

All services are free of charge to patients, but it costs around £4.8 million each year to provide these services and only about a quarter of this is received from the government.  Everything else – more than £3 million – comes from people in the community, as well as local businesses and trusts and foundations. This year there is a £500k shortfall to meet these costs.  As with many charities, fund raising has been heavily impacted by Covid and the need for funds is greater than ever. 

When Ingrid passed away we were unable to attend her funeral to say goodbye due to the restrictions in place, so on Wednesday 16th September we are all getting together to remember Ingrid and will be taking part in the Katharine House Midnight Walk Reimagined to raise as much as we can in her memory.  We appreciate that these times are challenging however we would appreciate a donation if you can so that Katharine House can continue to support the community around us. 

Thank you for reading - The Barry White Fan Club x