Meet the incredible South Shields great-grandmother still fundraising at 90 to help people with Alzheimer's

June Coser has touched so many lives through her commitment to the Alzheimer's Society a charity which supports people with dementia.

June, from Brunswick Street, cared for her husband, Bill Coser, after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and it was her personal experience with the illness that inspired her to help others facing their own battle with it.

She joined South Tyneside Alzheimer's Carers Committee and went on to become it’s chairwoman, spending the last 14 years doing everything from bag packs at Iceland and B&M – to organising events across South Tyneside –in an effort to raise funds for the Alzheimer's Society.

Now as June celebrates her 90th birthday on Monday, June 21, her loved ones have hailed her incredible devotion to the cause.

Daughter, Dawn Bingham, 59, said: "We are all so proud of her, she is amazing.

"Her work for Alzheimer’s is something that has kept her going after losing my step-dad Bill in 2013.

"She has always thought that Alzheimer’s is not something that is well-supported [compared to other causes] and just thought that if she could do something to help then she would.”

June met her late husband Bill through a dating advert in the newspaper and the pair went on to marry in 1984, spending 29 years together.

June is mum to Dawn Bingham, Jacqueline Ball, Alan Corbyn, Kevin Corbyn, Karen Burns and Jayne Shuttleworth, She also has eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

June is also well-known in the borough from her career spent working as a catering manager for a number of nursing homes before she retired.

Even when Covid proved a testing time for fundraising, June has still been collecting funds through a charity box at Gills Fish & Chips at the Nook and at Scott Hairdressing on New Green Street, South Shields.

And despite her milestone birthday, June still plans to be actively involved in fundraising for the charity.

Daughter Dawn added: "She has raised a lot of money over the years for Alzheimer’s along with her friend Vera Jobson and has just loved doing it."

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