My dad, Neville, passed away suddenly last week.

I found him at home on Tuesday, having passed peacefully in his sleep. Since then, it's been a whirlwind of emotions and practical things to deal with, and we're still trying to process the fact that he's gone.

Dad was a stop-motion animator, filmmaker and, above all, a loving and sensitive father and friend to me and so many others. He was one of a kind.

What has been overwhelming, is the amount of love we've received. We are so grateful.

We've had so many messages from friends, family, colleagues and people who knew Dad through different parts of his life, all asking the same thing:

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

After thinking about it, we realised that perhaps there is.

Dad didn't leave much behind financially, and while we'd love to simply stop everything and spend the next few weeks and months carefully going through his belongings and his life's work, we also have jobs, bills and normal life that has already had to resume.

Dad spent decades creating things. His home is filled with the evidence of that life — puppets, models, kits, filmmaking equipment, artwork, photographs, materials, unfinished ideas and pieces from projects stretching back many years.

Some of it is finished work. Some of it is probably only meaningful if you knew Dad.

But together, it's an extraordinary record of a creative life.

And we don't want to lose it.

So we're setting up this fundraiser to give us a little breathing room, to help towards funeral costs and to try and preserve at least some of Dad's work before decisions have to be made about what happens to everything.

We don't want to make those decisions while we're grieving and under pressure to clear a home.

We just want to make sure we have the opportunity to make them.

There is absolutely no expectation for anyone to donate. The messages, memories, photographs and stories people have already shared about Dad mean more to us than I can properly put into words.

If you knew Dad, worked with him, or simply have a story about him, we'd love to see/hear those too.

Thank you.

— Javan and family