Rothbury photographer presents £1,000 to Northumberland charity thanks to support from anonymous donor

Susan Aynsley chose Coquetdale League of Friends to benefit from the sale of her 2024 calendar after deciding to donate to a local organisation.

The calendar, which featured scenes of Coquetdale’s landscape, proved very popular and sold out just after Christmas.

Susan was delighted to be able to present the charity with £500 and this amount was then matched by an anonymous generous donor, bringing the total to £1,000.

Monica Ronaldson, chair of the Coquetdale League of Friends, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have raised £1,000 to support our work and are so grateful to Susan, our match funding donor and all the shops in Rothbury who helped sell the calendar.

Susan commented: “I felt it was such a good cause. They support patients and health providers in the valley, such as supplying the community nurses with extra equipment to help deliver services in this very rural area.

“Last year, they helped fund a defibrillator at Ryehill, supplied the reopened NHS beds at Rothbury Cottage Care with two TVs and started a small grant to help those needing respite care.”

Susan has been making calendars for different charities since she was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2016 and said that photography was something that helped her through the hard days.

"I had to give up my job at the time and I took up photography,” she revealed. “I'd always liked photography but I started concentrating on it more then, and it was my saviour really. The first year that I got into the photography I did a calendar and the proceeds went to Cancer Research.

“I think if it hadn't been for the photography, I would have gone into a deep depression and I wouldn't have had anything to do, so it really did help me out an awful lot.”

Susan’s first calendar raised around £600 and subsequently, she has created one each year for multiple other charities. Calendars have become a popular way of raising money.

Happy to be supporting a local cause, Susan will be working with the charity again next year.