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

This week we’re celebrating some of the 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.

Lynne Baird from Birmingham set up a foundation in memory of her son Daniel, after he was fatally stabbed on a night out with friends.

Mejar Singh Gill has run his family bakery in Atherstone in Warwickshire for the last 36 years.  During that time he's been heavily involved in raising funds for cancer wards, Diabetes UK and Coventry Alzheimers, to name but a few.

 And during the pandemic he's used his bakery business as a force for good, delivering bread to NHS staff at a local hospital, and food parcels to vulnerable people.

 Jane Hesketh caught up with him,  from a safe distance, in the kitchen.

Natalie Queiroz from Sutton Coldfield says she owes her life to the Midlands Air Ambulance. She was airlifted to hospital after being stabbed 24 times when she was eight months pregnant.

Just three months after the attack she contacted the Air Ambulance fundraising manager,  to say she wanted to help.

Jane Hesketh went to meet her.

Corporal Aaron Jackson took it upon himself to provide care packages for patients in Wolverhampton hospitals who were struggling without essentials, because they couldn't have visitors during lockdown. 

 He could see how badly it was affecting his wife, who's a nurse, and her colleagues, and so stepped in to help. Jane Hesketh has been to meet him.

The winner will be revealed tomorrow.