Murder victim Lisa Skidmore's family honoured for Disney trip charity work
A family whose terrible loss led them to launch a children’s Disneyland fund have been presented with a national award.
Margaret Skidmore and her family wanted to create something positive from their suffering following the rape and murder of 37-year-old Lisa Skidmore at her Bilston home in November 2016.
They raised almost £7,000 to send local children to Disneyland Paris, a place Lisa loved and had visited four times.
Margaret knitted and sold soft-toy nurse figures in tribute to her beloved daughter, while friends and Lisa’s colleagues also rallied round to help raise the cash.
July will see the first youngsters to benefit from their efforts travel to Paris on a trip organised by the charity Embrace, which helps child victims of crime to build happy memories on their road to recovery.
The charity presented the Skidmores with the Fundraiser of the Year Award.
The family still has all of Lisa’s Disney memorabilia, a collection comprising more than 300 figurines and other related items.
Mrs Skidmore, aged 82, said: “It’s hard to get rid of them.
“If we were out and Lisa saw something she liked and it was near her birthday or Christmas, I’d buy it her.
“Just before it [the murder] happened, we were in Llandudno and she saw these two figures of Mickey and Minnie and I bought them her for Christmas. They’re still upstairs, she never got them.”
Lisa’s sister Joyce Skidmore, 61, said it would be heartbreaking to give away Lisa’s possessions: “It’s hard, it would be like giving her away.”
Margaret described Lisa as “kind and caring, and just a big kid at heart.
“She was about four years old when her obsession with Disney, and Mickey Mouse in particular, started.
“I used to buy Disney stuff off a man at Bilston market and when she was older and went to Disneyland, she’d bring back these big Disney figures.”
Joyce said: “Whenever we went to Birmingham or Merry Hill, she’d always end up in the Disney shop, without fail.”
Margaret recalled Lisa finding a battered Mickey Mouse figure in an antiques shop in Llangollen that was so big they had to put a seatbelt round it.”
Alison Parker, another of Lisa’s sisters, said the fund was a way of honouring her memory by combining three things that she loved: children, making people happy and Disney.
At the time of its launch she said: “Lisa can’t go anymore but we hope other children, who might not otherwise get the chance to have a holiday like this, can enjoy the magic that Lisa so loved.”
But Margaret gave special thanks to Lisa’s former colleagues at New Cross Hospital, where she worked on the vascular ward for 12 years, and Bilston Health Centre, where she was a district nurse, and all other parties for their fundraising efforts.
Killer Leroy Campbell, 56, of Forest Road, Moseley, pleaded guilty to murder, rape, attempted murder and arson at Birmingham Crown Court.
He was given a whole life sentence and will never be released.
To make a donation, go to the family's Virgin Money online page.
