Shropshire couple brings community together to support local pub owner
Regular visitors to a Shrewsbury pub at the heart of the community are celebrating after raising more than £1,400 to benefit local cancer patients.
A dedicated fundraising event was held at the Dog and Pheasant pub in Castlefields to raise money for Lingen Davies Cancer Fund as a thank you for care given to pub landlord Kev Roberts after he was diagnosed with cancer.
Carol and Ges Fleetwood are friends and customers of Kev and his wife Angela and were the brains behind the fundraising idea – after three years of fundraising for numerous charities in memory of their son Nathan Fleetwood who lost his life in the River Severn in 2022.
The couple have so far raised more than £9,000 in Nathan’s memory and decided to use their skills and commitment to supporting local causes in honour of Kev who was diagnosed with stage three cancer earlier last year. Kev underwent chemotherapy treatment at the Lingen Davies Cancer Centre at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in June 2024. Thankfully he has now been given the ‘all clear’.
Kev’s wife, Angela Roberts, said, “It all happened very quickly once we got a diagnosis and were seeing the consultants.”
The pub was packed out for the fundraising event where Carol and Ges ran a raffle and auction – raising £1,428 with the support of Georgina Kimberly, Kev’s stepdaughter and assistant manager at the Dog and Pheasant.
Ges Fleetwood said: “We’ve done a few of our own charity events in memory of our son, Nathan, who we lost three years ago. He was 21.
“We wanted to do something to help Kev and Angela. This place has been our safe haven.
“We completely packed the place out. It was a big community event, and people came together to do something really good. We were given lots of presents from the community to go towards raffle prizes.
“This is a real ‘heart of the community’ pub and that’s why we wanted to do it here.”
Angela Roberts was blown away by the support the event received.
“People’s generosity has been incredible, and Georgina put her heart and soul into it.
“We heard this morning that there’s no more signs of the cancer and he’s in remission. If he hadn’t had the chemotherapy he wouldn’t be here today.”
Now that Kev is in remission, he has joined forces with Ges to raise money for another charity close to their hearts – the First Responders.
Ges said, “We’re doing a football tournament in August. There are five teams playing that Nathan used to play with. It’s already raised more than £9,000 for First Responders. We’re really pleased at the legacy he’s created.”
Lingen Davies Cancer Fund exists to improve the lives of everyone impacted by cancer in Shropshire, Telford, and Mid Wales.
