A FUNDRAISING champion for Wantage Hospital and tireless community worker has died aged 95.

Kathleen Hawkey MBE was often seen in the centre of Wantage, collecting for good causes in all weathers, even in the last year of her life.

Mrs Hawkey was born Kathleen Wadland in 1917 on a farm in Williamscot near Banbury.

She went to school in Leamington Spa, before training as a teacher and working in schools in Surrey and Devon.

During the Second World War she became a voluntary aid detachment nurse at The Horton Hospital in Banbury where she met her husband-to-be, Dr John Hawkey.

They married on New Year’s Day in 1944 and two weeks later Mr Hawkey was sent to Burma with the Royal Army Medical Corps.

After the war, Dr Hawkey worked as a GP in Wantage for the Newbury Street Practice until his retirement in 1985.

As a GP’s wife, Mrs Hawkey played a role as a receptionist, nurse, and counsellor.

But she was best known for her work as a community volunteer.

She joined the Wantage Community Hospital League of Friends when the organisation began in 1963.

And in 2004 she went to 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition to keep the community hospital from closing.

In 2007 she led a project to raise £800,000 to build Wantage Nursing Home in Garston Lane.

In 2010 she was presented with a Diamond Award in recognition of her hard work for the League of Friends.

She was also the district commissioner and later division Commissioner in the Girl Guides.

She was involved in the Church of England Children’s Society and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and served as chairman on both local branches.

An honorary life member of the Oxford Association of the Blind, she was also chairman of Governors at Garston Lane Primary School.

She was also an active campaigner for Christian Aid, the Samaritans, Age Concern, Sue Ryder Foundation, Save the Children, and Wantage Parochial Church Council.

In 1979 she was awarded an MBE for her service to the community.

She died peacefully at home in Manor Road, Wantage, on October 9, aged 95.

She leaves four children, 13 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Dr Hawkey passed away in 1997.

Mrs Hawkey’s funeral takes place at Wantage Parish Church at 2pm tomorrow.