Volunteers to step up as daffodil organiser steps down

After five years of fundraising and supporting cancer research, Daffodil Day organiser Jill Winstone stepped down from her role last week.

Mrs Winstone started volunteering at Cancer Council WA’s Bunbury support services centre Dot’s Place to join her husband who was already volunteering as a driver.

“Apart from Daffodil Day, I’ve been a relief in administration and helped out with all that’s happening here,” she said.

“In all that time my husband has been a driver here one day a week, taking people to their chemotherapy and radiation sessions.”

Mrs Winstone said cancer had touched her family and it was this that motivated her work but also when she got a first-hand look at cancer research.

“We had family cancer on both sides,” she said.

“A couple of years ago I went up to the Telethon Kids Institute and met some of the young scientists there and that really motivated me for another few years.

“Just seeing how they used our grants to look for cures and they had found something that day we were there, so it was all very exciting.”

This year volunteers took part in the Daffodil Day street appeal in the CBD, raising $12,000.

Mrs Winstone said there was a network of volunteers she had built up in her time, ready to step in for next year’s event.

“It’s not as though it’s going to be abandoned,” she said.

“Over those five years I have built up a network of 64 people from about four, so they’ve really got plenty of help.”