Family of Hucknall girl Ellie holding fun day in her memory to thank King's Mill hospital staff

Elle-Paige Gibson, 18, died earlier this year after a long battle against a number of illnesses and disabilities that saw her spend much of the last year in hospital.

Now, her family has organised a fun day at St Peter and St Paul’s Church on Ruffs Drive in Hucknall on September 11 – to be close to what would have been Ellie’s birthday on September 15 – between 12.30pm and 4.30pm with all money raised going to the children’s ward 25 at King’s Mill Hospital.

Nicola Millward, Ellie’s mum, said: “This ward was where Ellie spent most of the last years of her life and especially doing lockdown, she spent more time there than at home so they became like a second family to her.

"We just want to thank them for all the love and care they gave to her and this is Ellie’s way to give something back.

"Ellie was admitted there 14 times in the last year of her life but each time, because of lockdown, only I could visit her, no other family members were allowed.

"It was a really tough time but all the doctors and nurses were there for me, making sure I was okay and that I’d got everything I needed and I had someone to talk to, as well as caring for Ellie.

"Apart from Facetime and Zoom calls, none of the family could come and see Ellie so it was a really tough time but they were brilliant throughout.”

Now, the family want to give something back by holding this special fun day in Ellie’s memory.

Nicola continued: “We’ll have all the usual things like inflatables, tombola, face painting, raffles, nail painting, hair braiding, activities for the kids, hook a duck, lots of stalls, a cake sale and a bric-a-brac.”

At this stage, there are no plans for the fun day to become an annual event and the focus for now is raising money for the hospital.

Nicola said: “Obviously we wanted to tie it in with Ellie’s birthday – she would have been 19 on September 15 – and for now we just wanted to concentrate on that.

"We haven’t thought about whether we would do another ye t , for now just want to help to get money for the hospital and say thank you to them.”

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