WHEN handicapped Deanne Gee died aged only 14, her mother, Joyce, was determined her daughter's name and life would not be forgotten.

She launched the Deanne Gee Memorial Fund in a bid to help other children with physical and mental difficulties across York and North Yorkshire.

Now, as the fund celebrates its silver jubilee, it is still going strong after raising almost a quarter of a million pounds over the past 25 years.

Deanne, of Kingsway North, Clifton, died in 1980 from spinal muscle atrophy.

Her mother started raising money when her daughter was still alive and a pupil at Northfield School, helping both the school and the hospital, and after she died she just carried on.

The local community threw itself into the fund-raising drive.

One man completed the Lyke Wake Walk on the North York Moors, a woman undertook a sponsored slim and a group of children held a garden party which raised £51.

Pupils at Kingsway North Primary School collected £145 in two pence pieces, members of the Phoenix Working Men's Club were sponsored to walk through the city's streets in fancy dress and five runners raised more than £100 by taking part in the Manchester Marathon.

On one occasion, Joyce even went to Thorp Arch Prison, near Wetherby, to receive £360 from three inmates who took part in the Wetherby half-marathon.

But she has herself also organized umpteen table top sales and jumble sales from her home and at other premises.

The fund has been able over the years to help provide equipment and other help to individuals, schools and hospitals.

Speech training equipment was bought for York District Hospital's Child Development Unit, an electric typewriter for a girl who had difficulty writing and a device to help relieve congestion of the lungs for a seven-year-old girl.

Joyce's work received Royal recognition when she was invited down to Buckingham Palace in 2001 and got to tell the Queen about the fund.

"The Queen said what a wonderful job we were doing and how good it was for it to be part of the community," she told the Evening Press later.

She said the fund, which had three trustees, gave out grants after recommendations by teachers and doctors.

"If we've got the money, we buy it, whether it's holidays, computers, wheelchairs," she said.

The fund marked its anniversary with a jubilee service at St Luke's Church, Burton Stone Lane, York, last month.

Joyce Gee can be contacted on 655177.

Updated: 10:12 Tuesday, August 23, 2005