20p and a SHARE for Bill – One Last Hurrah

We don't want your £20. We want your 20p – and your SHARE!

The community of Portchester lost its very own Bill Wright at the end of September.

Bill was a local legend and a true gentleman – one of those people who always seemed to have time for everyone else.

For many years, Bill and his devoted wife Barbara dedicated an enormous amount of their time to raising money for people less fortunate than themselves.

And if you're from Portchester, there's a very good chance you'll remember how they did it; The Christmas Winter Wonderland in The Crossway. Every Christmas, Bill and Barbara transformed their home in The Crossway with a wonderful display of Christmas lights.

People came to see the lights, children brought their pocket money, families dropped coins into the collection – and Bill and Barbara were invariably there to say hello, have a chat and wish everyone a Merry Christmas; It became part of Christmas in Portchester.

But behind all those lights was something even more special; They were raising money for other people.

Between 2016 and 2025, Bill and Barbara raised an extraordinary £18,360.71!

Of that:

£ 17,292.84 went to Woodsy's Pantry

£ 796.75 went to the Rocky Appeal

£ 271.12 went to Wicor School Gardens

And when we say every penny counted, we really do mean EVERY penny!

Children would sometimes donate their pocket money – literally pennies and coppers – and afterwards Bill and Barbara would spend hours counting the proceeds to make absolutely certain their chosen cause received every single penny. This included many trips to the bank to cash the money in, because they couldn't carry all the proceeds in one go! Every penny mattered.

Last Christmas was supposed to be their last!

After many Christmases of fundraising, Bill and Barbara had decided that Christmas 2025 would be their final year.

Both in their early 80s, putting everything together was understandably becoming too much - They'd done their bit and they'd certainly earned a Christmas off... Sadly, Bill never got the opportunity to have it.

So we've decided to give him One Last Hurrah instead.

Our challenge: £18,360.71 by Christmas Day!

Ambitious? Yes.

Impossible? NO!

We want to raise the same amount Bill and Barbara raised in the last ten years - £18,360.71. And we'd like to do it by Christmas Day!

But there's a difference....

We don't want your £20 - We want your 20p – and your SHARE!

We're not asking people to make large donations. Quite the opposite.

This is about demonstrating what Bill and Barbara proved year after year: Small change can make a very big difference when enough people get involved.

Just give a little if you can, or, at the very least, a simple SHARE!

A SHARE could be even more valuable than a few pennies.

Share it with your friends and family.

Share it with your workplace.

Share it with your football club, school, pub, shop or community group.

Share it with your employees, make it your company's Christmas charity!

Because this challenge isn't really about how much one person can give. It's about how many people we can reach.

If enough people hear Bill's Story, perhaps all those small donations can do something quite extraordinary.

Those who knew Bill will know that his contribution to Portchester went far beyond Christmas.

He could regularly be found walking the streets picking up litter, quietly doing his bit because he was immensely proud of the community in which he lived - Personal recognition was never the aim. Bill simply cared.

He cared about his neighbours. He cared about his community. And he cared about people who were less fortunate than himself and that's why we'd love this final fundraiser to succeed.

Not because Bill would ever have wanted the attention but because he deserves the thank you.

Where will the money go?

There really could only be one choice.

The proceeds from One Last Hurrah for Bill will once again support Woodsy's Pantry, a food bank in Portchester, continuing the work that became so important to Bill and Barbara.

Of the £18,360.71 they raised between 2016 and 2025, an incredible £17,292.84 went to Woodsy's Pantry.

So Bill's final collection will continue helping people in the community he was so proud to call home.

From Portchester. For Portchester. In memory of Bill.

20p for Bill, and a SHARE!

For years, at Christmas, Bill and Barbara stood outside their home collecting everybody else's loose change.

This Christmas, Bill doesn't need to put the lights up.

Instead, we're asking all of you to carry his collection tin for him.

Let's see how far we can take it.

Let's see how many people we can reach.

And let's see whether thousands of tiny donations can somehow become £ 18,360.71 by Christmas Day.

Years of fundraising.

One final collection.

20p for Bill.

One SHARE for Bill.

One Last Hurrah.

Thank you, Bill.

Rest in peace.

A local legend, a true gentleman and someone Portchester should never forget.

(Bill's funeral takes place at Portchester Crematorium at 1215hrs on Tuesday 20 October 2026)

QUICK UPDATE! ❤️

We’ve discovered since launching that GoFundMe has a minimum donation of £5 — something we hadn’t appreciated when we came up with 20p for Bill!

So we’re adapting the challenge rather than changing it;

1. If you're inclined to donate here, we're very grateful, thank you, sincerely.

2. We're asking local organisations (schools, businesses etc) to have a collection tin to support us, as a community, for those 20p donations!

3. Drop your change, as you would have normally done, to Bill's collection tin at his home; 193 The Crossway, Portchester. Sadly, no lights this year.

But the most important part of this campaign hasn’t changed:

We want your SHARE.

You absolutely don’t have to donate to help us. If sharing Bill’s story brings it in front of another 25 people, that could be worth far more than any donation from you.

In a difficult time for our community, economic and political, let's come together and bring some joy.

20p for Bill. One SHARE for Bill. One Last Hurrah. ❤️