Author launches fundraiser so her grandmother’s nursing home can afford ‘trips to the pub’

Author launches fundraiser at her 93-year-old grandmother’s nursing home so lonely residents can afford ‘fun events and the odd pint’ – and raises SEVEN times her £250 goal in less than 24 hours

  • Laura Jane Williams, from Derbyshire, launched the £250 fundraiser on Monday
  • She wanted to raise cash so 25 residents can have ‘events’ and ‘trips to the pub’
  • Author exceeded goal by four times in two hours and total now stands at £1,874

An author who launched a fundraiser to add to the dwindling ‘fun fund’ at her 93-year-old grandmother’s care home has revealed it surpassed its target by four times – in just a few hours.

Laura Jane Williams, from Derbyshire, was shocked to discover her Crowdfunding page with a goal of £250 had reached £1,000 two hours after its launch on Monday.

When the author woke up the next morning, the total exceeded seven-times the goal at £1,800.

Laura said she decided to raise cash for the unnamed nursing home so the 25 residents can have ‘singers, events and occasionally half a pint at the pub’.

Laura Jane Williams, from Derbyshire, launched a fundraiser to add to the dwindling ‘fun fund’ at her 93-year-old grandmother’s care home on Monday

Writing on Twitter, Laura said: ‘My grandmother’s nursing home is staffed by wonderful people, who are a family to the residents.

‘They do what they can with what they have. But, the thing is, is that the 25 residents can’t just sit and watch TV everyday. That’s like… well. Waiting to die, basically. 

‘That’s not a life. That’s not living.’

Laura, whose third novel Our Stop is due for release on August 8, went on to explain that her own grandmother ‘has a whale of a time’ with her five daughters and seventeen grandchildren.

The author said she decided to raise cash for the unnamed nursing home so the 25 residents can have 'singers, events and occasionally half a pint at the pub'

The author said she decided to raise cash for the unnamed nursing home so the 25 residents can have ‘singers, events and occasionally half a pint at the pub’

Writing on Twitter, she said: 'My grandmother's nursing home is staffed by wonderful people, who are a family to the residents'

Writing on Twitter, she said: ‘My grandmother’s nursing home is staffed by wonderful people, who are a family to the residents’

Instead, the author is fundraising for the ‘lonelier’ residents who ‘don’t get visitors’.

She said: ‘All proceeds raised will go towards their “fun fund”, paying for singers or entertainment acts to visit, events and special functions, and for the occasional wheelchair push down to the local pub for a nice half. 

‘You know – all the stuff that makes life worth living!’

Laura then explained that each donation of over £1 will add the patron into a raffle to have a character named after them in an upcoming novel.

Laura went on to explain that her own grandmother 'has a whale of a time' with her five daughters and seventeen grandchildren

Laura went on to explain that her own grandmother ‘has a whale of a time’ with her five daughters and seventeen grandchildren

She said: ‘Every donation over £1 will count as an entry into a raffle to have a character named after you in Laura Jane Williams (that’s me!) next novel, as well as a thank you in the acknowledgements.

‘We’re not great to our OAP’s, sometimes. I hope somebody looks out for me when I’m in a nursing home. I hope I get the dignity of a good time. Community is everything’. 

The fundraiser surpassed its initial £250 target by four times in just two hours, with Laura thanking her audience of 18,000 for their hurried support.

The author was shocked to discover her Crowdfunding page had reached £1,000 shortly after she launched it on Monday (Pictured, Laura with a photograph of her grandmother)

The author was shocked to discover her Crowdfunding page had reached £1,000 shortly after she launched it on Monday (Pictured, Laura with a photograph of her grandmother)

She woke up the next morning to find the total at £1,600 and it has now surpassed £1,800

She woke up the next morning to find the total at £1,600 and it has now surpassed £1,800

She then woke up the next morning to find the total at £1,600, but said she would keep the page open because ‘the more they raise the longer it can be before fundraising again’.

Laura said: ‘Okay, so we’ve woken up to £1,600 which is almost 7 times the target… but I’ll keep it open because the more they raise the longer it can be before fundraising again! 

‘I win best granddaughter, it feels good to help etc etc etc)’.



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