Sadly Patricia Whitaker (nee Rowell) or Pat, as most people knew her, unexpectedly passed away at home on the 28 November in Kirkburton.

At 84 she was a force of nature and an example to us all - showing us that age shouldn't be a barrier to any activity, whether it was gardening, cooking, axe throwing, helping others or individual style!

A loving and caring mum, sister, grandma, great grandma, aunt, mother-in-law, friend, neighbour, and colleague, she would always look to help others.

She was passionate about helping charities; she worked each Wednesday at the Kirkwood Hospice shop in the village, raised money for Breakthrough, Cancer Research and the British Legion, during almost 60 years in Kirkburton village. As part of her last wishes she requested that, in lieu of flowers at her funeral, we donate to the charity Smile Train.

Across the world every 3 minutes a young child is born with a cleft - leaving them struggling to breathe, speak and eat throughout their lives. Smile Train offers care, support and surgery to children and their families enabling them to live a life - and smile.

So please together, let us take the tears, shock and sadness that we are feeling now and transform them into lasting smiles for young people and their families across the world.

Perhaps together we can raise £300 to provide life changing surgery for one child?

All donations will go directly to Smile Train.

What is Smile Train?

Smile Train is the world’s largest cleft charity, sponsoring 2M+ cleft surgeries since 1999. Our success owes to our sustainable model of training, funding, and equipping local medical teams to provide comprehensive cleft care that’s always there for their neighbours in need.

Smile Train empowers medical professionals around the world with training, funding, and resources to provide free surgery and other forms of comprehensive cleft care to children in their communities.

Supporting Smile Train gives a child access to a full range of cleft services they would have otherwise never received and ultimately the opportunity for a better quality of life.

smiletrain.org.uk

ukinfo@smiletrain.org

Smile Train Registered charity number 1114748