A FUNDRAISING family has stepped up its efforts after its beloved matriarch was diagnosed with cancer.

Sheila French from Witney has been described as the “glue” that has held her family together for years and has looked after successive generations of children.

The 69-year-old organised annual events to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support and has been the driving force behind annual holidays for the Weirdos At The Seaside, as they affectionately dub themselves, which have become part of family folklore.

In March, the mother-of-two and grandmother-of-four, who is married to 71-year-old Mike French, was was diagnosed with cancer of the kidneys, spine and lung.

Now the family has pulled together to care for and support Mrs French and has stepped up its fundraising efforts for the cancer cause too.

Mrs French’s grandson Jesse Lawrence, 18, has put his plans to go to university on hold so he can take a gap year to help look after his grandmother.

He said: “She has always been the heart and soul of our family, arranging family gatherings for hundreds and continuously being the glue that keeps us together.

“Amongst us, she is known as ‘matriarch’, ‘mother’ or ‘maa’, but she is so much more than that.

“She is a grandmother, mother, aunt, great-aunt, cousin, sister, wife, but more than anything a friend to us all.”

The family received the news just a month before their annual holiday to Burnham-on-Sea for which the family hires an entire block of chalets for about 60 people each year.

Mr Lawrence said: “We were devastated when we found out because she is the hub of everything but we’ve dealt with it unbelievably well. We all know how to stick together because of her.” Mrs French’s daughters Michelle Jackson and Claire Laurence-French decided to organise a Big Night In to raise cash for Macmillan at Tower Hill School in Witney.

It took place on the weekend after Mrs French’s 69th birthday on June 6.

It featured bingo and a raffle, and two bands made up of members of the family provided the entertainment.

Mr Lawrence said: “The night went extremely well due to the organisation and hard work from Claire and Michelle and and the hundreds of other people that helped. The school was packed and we managed to sell in excess of 10,000 raffle tickets.

The Big Night in raised £5,600.

The family is now organising the next Macmillan fundraiser, taking place on July 19 at The Fox pub in Leafield.