As Clare and her mum Pattie Jones watched the teams of dragon boats racing down the River Severn, they vowed that next year they would be on the water with a team of their own.
For Clare, who was suffering from mouth cancer, it was the latest in a long line of fundraising ideas to help support cancer charities and victims of the disease. She was immediately pencilled in as the drummer at the head of the boat and a team was pulled together.
But Clare would never get the chance to take her seat on the boat – in March 2007 she died of the disease at the age of 23.
The team, featuring Clare’s dad Colin and brothers Simon and Kevin as well as a host of family friends from the Bayston Hill area, was named Clare’s Crew in her memory and took to the river as planned, reaching the final and finishing sixth.
But last Sunday the team took the top prize by winning one of the closest finals ever amid emotional scenes on the river bank.
Colin and Pattie have dedicated the victory to their daughter’s memory, and have already raised around £1,500 in sponsorship for the Severn Hospice.
Clare was diagnosed with the disease in February 2003 at the age of 19, and she joined the Mouth Cancer Foundation to help raise awareness.
She graduated from Loughborough University with a first in information management and business studies in 2005 and secured a job at Swansea NHS Trust. But she was diagnosed with secondary bone cancer in 2006 and she died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with her family and boyfriend Dan by her side.
To support the fundraising visit www.just giving.com/dragonboat08clarescrew
* See page 18 of Shrewsbury Chronicle on sale now.
