Anne Harris (A Biography)

Anne has many interests, including; the natural world, reading, walking, a wide range of music, most notable classical and Rock'n'Roll, and collecting Victorian picture tiles, Victorian illustrated books, embroided pictures, Beanies™, Father Christmases and garden pots, preferably containing plants!

In mid 2003, following routine screening, Anne was diagnosed as having breast cancer. She underwent a masectomy and a period of chemotherapy to treat this. As of February 2004, she has been given the "all clear". Although still feeling some after-effects from the treatment, mostly tiredness, Anne is happy to be over her little lump!

Anne decided to use the time away from work afforded by her recovery period as the foundation on which to start the Coral Reef project, which had been in back of her mind for a number of years. Working on the project gave Anne something to focus on that was not the illness, something that was positive, inspiring and a goal for her to achieve.

As a consequence of Anne's desire for the Coral Reef to be the nucleus around which she can raise money to help children, the Anne Harris Children's Fund was formed as a legal entity, to which donations can be made and which will be responsible for the distribution of all money raised to beneficiary organisations.

Anne has become a full-time carer for her mother. This has meant Anne and Chris moving in with her in early 2004. Their new home has much less space than they are used to. Many of Anne's collectables have been placed in storage. The hardest part is finding space to work on her inflatables; although Anne may create these using a domestic sewing machine, a creature over 20m (60ft) in length requires a lot of space to work on!

In addition to caring for her mother and working towards the Coral Reef, Anne will be returning to her job in a residential home for adults with learning disabilities in April 2004.

---

Previous | Pages: 1, 2, 3 | Next