A CHARITY ball has remembered a Northampton grandfather who died in an accident at work.
The Waistcoats and Tiaras ball, held at The Marriott Hotel, in Brackmills, Northampton, on Saturday night, raised more than £16,000 for the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance in memory of 58-year-old Roy Claringbold.
He died in November last year while working as a refuse collector for Kingsthorpe-based Veolia Environmental Services.
More than 150 people enjoyed a three-course dinner, music from a live band, a disco, a raffle, and a charity auction, with prizes including tickets to a West End show and signed Premier League football club merchandise.
Mr Claringbold’s widow, Tracy, said: “The event was down to my brother, Andrew Southgate, and his wife, Mandie.
“It was absolutely fantastic, I can’t believe the amount of money we raised.
“The support was overwhelming.
“It’s been a very tough year, we have been left devastated.
“I walked through the door when I got home and saw pictures of Roy, and thought ‘if he could know what was done tonight in his memory’.”
The Chronicle & Echo reported in November last year how Roy Claringbold was found dead at the wheel of his cab with severe head injuries.
He was believed to have been collecting waste from outside The Clocktower pub in Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, on his rounds when he was injured.
Thames Valley Police, who led an initial investigation, said he appeared to have got back into his lorry and driven to a nearby street, where he lost consciousness. Mr Claringbold was taken to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital by the air ambulance, but died a week later.
An inquest in June found his death was as the result of an accident.
source: northamptonchron.co.uk
