Meet the East Midlands finalists for the Pride of Britain Fundraiser of the Year

This week we’re celebrating some of the East Midlands’ unsung heroes.

 Every year we select someone to represent the Central region, in the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Fundraiser category.

 We asked you to nominate someone that you felt went above and beyond to help others.  It was a mammoth task, but we managed to whittle the list down to four individuals who fitted the bill. Every day we’ll add each of their stories below, and reveal the winner on Friday.

Steve Ray from Lutterworth in Leicestershire started off playing his saxophone in public to cheer people up during the pandemic. 

 But his impromptu concerts became so popular he was inundated with charitable donations which he passed onto the Lutterworth and villages foodbank.

 Jane Hesketh caught up with him outside a care home.

Sukhjit Minhas has been bringing the glamour of Bollywood and the taste of Asia to Leicestershire, and raised thousands for Rainbows children's  hospice and the Healing Little Hearts charity.

She's been described as 'a serial fundraiser' whose passion and attention to detail means her events are widely supported in the community.

Jane Hesketh went to meet her.

Ian Alcon from Nottingham was keeping his children motivated with their schoolwork, and not bored staying at home. He came up with the idea of a camp out in the back garden. 

He shared it on social media in the hope of raising a hundred pounds for charity, and the Great British Camp Out for the NHS was born.

Jane Hesketh caught up with them in their back garden

Mary Storrie from Bottesford in Nottinghamshire, faced the worst tragedy any parent could imagine, when her ten year-old daughter was murdered at a Christmas party in the home of a family friend.

 She set up the Rosie May Foundation to provide a living legacy for her daughter, and to be a force for good in the world.  Jane Hesketh has been to meet her.

The winner will be revealed tomorrow.