The news of the sudden and unexplained passing of Olivia Gow at the age of 19 came as a devastating shock to myself and all my staff at Classie Dog Grooming where she had worked since she was 16. Liv was a model employee, a delight to work with, loved by her colleagues and was one of those rare people who could just light up a room. She was a ray of sunshine.
We felt it was essential that we honoured Oliviaโs memory in some way and, after consulting her family, organised a cake sale at the Classie salon where we aimed to raise funds for Cardiac Risk in the Young, a charity which does sterling work by supporting young people diagnosed with potentially life threatening cardiac conditions and to families who have been affected.
Our staff, led by Natalie Smith, threw themselves into organising the sale on Friday 29th November and local businesses were generous with their donations. We were happy to welcome Oliviaโs family to the event and hope they felt some comfort in seeing how highly thought of Olivia was. We raised more than ยฃ800 on the day and have left the fund open for further donations.
Olivia was taken from us far too soon but she will always live on in our hearts.