NEWPORT fundraiser and I.T teacher Jackie Lewis, from St Julian's, has raised almost £30,000 in memory of her son Steven, who tragically died of stomach cancer in December 2011 aged just 31. After struggling with her grief for some time, she channelled it into something positive, and now hold events on an almost monthly basis, raising funds for Newport's St David's Hospice, which cared for her son when he was ill. She talks to KEILIGH BAKER.

“I was born in 1949 at the Lydia Beynon hospital in Newport. My family were living in Risca at the time. My dad, Peter Ingham, was from London, and during the war he and his family moved to Wales.

My dad had been in the army and after the war he worked in clerical jobs and played saxophone and clarinet in a band from Stow Hill. But he hated working in an office, he had enjoyed being in the army. My mother, Olivia, did shop work in various places.

I went to Pontymister Infants, then Dan Y Graig junior school. After passing my 11 Plus I went to Pontywaun Grammar School, which closed shortly afterwards so I then went to Newbridge Grammar School.

I left school when I was 16, adamant I did not want to stay on. My dad was very against me working in an office because he thought I’d find it boring and so he wanted me to stay on and do my A Levels.

But I had always wanted to work in an office, so after leaving school I worked in the office at Lysaght’s and I stayed there for 13 years.

I met my husband Brian in the mid-1970s and we married in 1977. Steven, our eldest, was born in 1980. Brian is from Blackwood, he’s a proper Valleys man.

When I was pregnant the British Steel strikes were going on. After I had Steven I was lucky enough to get redundancy, which made things a little easier.

By this point, 1977, we had moved to Newport, and I got a part-time cleaning job. In 1986 our second son, Matthew, came along.

I carried on with the part-time job cleaning, and ended up in Durham Road School. In 1990 I went back to learning at the Community Learning Centre in Stow Hill.

I gained qualifications in typing, book-keeping and word processing.

I was quite good at word processing, I had a bit of an affinity for the keyboard. I had taught myself to type and I enjoyed it.

The tutor there thought I would fit in at the office where I was having classes and without my knowing she put my name forward to the centre head.

One day the centre head came up to me and said, “would you like to have an informal chat”, and I was so worried I was in trouble for something I said yes without asking why!

Anyway, I got a job in the office and decided I should learn more about computers, so I put myself on a course at Nash.

In the mean time the office job moved to a new building on Charles Street, which is where we are now.

In 1992 the office bought a three-computer network. No one knew anything about computers apart from me, and I was asked to be network manager.

I was sent on a course up in Didcot and gained my certificate. When I and a friend arrived at the course, we realised all the others there were network managers for hundreds of computers, but the course leader told my boss “what they lack in experience they more than make up for in enthusiasm”!

I then began teaching the other people in the office how to use the computers, until one day the centre head said to me, “I think you should take a class” which is something I never thought I could do.

I gained teaching qualifications and started teaching IT to adults, and that’s how I fell into becoming an IT tutor for Community Learning. The class was really successful, and I was nominated and won a teacher of the year award at a ceremony in Cardiff in 2000 – 22 of my pupils had secretly nominated me. It was never something I thought I could do, but it just sort of fell into my lap, and I still love it.

When I first started teaching I decided I wanted to teach the way I would like to be taught, and that’s what I do to this day. I was 40 when I got my qualifications, which goes to show you can start at any age.

The funny thing is, my dad said to me years ago, you should go into computers, and I replied, “they won’t be around long, Dad, they’re just a whim”! Of course that was in the days when a computer took up an entire room.

I began fundraising for St David’s when they helped us out when Steven was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2011.

You don’t realise how important the work they do is until they help you and your loved ones out. It was only after we lost Steve that I realised how different it would have been without all their care and help.

Without Alf Smith, my wonderful bereavement counsellor, I wouldn’t be able to have come so far. He used to set me little tasks every week, and some I could do and some I couldn’t.

Because Steven was a lifeguard and swam competitively when he was younger, returning to a swimming pool has been very hard for me. I was only able to begin swimming again a few months ago. But this week I managed to swim 50 lengths, which is something I am very proud of. I’m training for our next It’s A Knockout fundraising swim event.

Fundraising is a double-edged sword. If you have lost someone, particularly a child, it helps keep their memory alive. All of our events are in memory of Steven.

You also feel like you are giving something back to the organisation that has given so much to you. I always want St David’s to be there so everyone can have the same amazing service we did.

Now my friends and I meet up more than we’ve ever done to discuss new fundraising ideas, and that’s brilliant. I couldn’t do it without all their help and support.

I honestly believe we could not have done as well as we have without those who have supported and helped us, come along to the fundraising events, donated and volunteered. I can’t even begin to name them as there are far too many and I wouldn’t want to miss anyone out. But they all know who they are.

Steven would be so proud of us and all of the events we hold are things he himself would have enjoyed; I know for a fact he would have loved the ice bucket challenge, he would have been one of the first to give it a go.

Looking at the bigger picture, we had Steven for 31 wonderful, happy and full years – and we have our photos and memories.”

* To find out more about Jackie’s upcoming events, visit www.facebook.com/StudSAL, use the hashtag #3zeepeazeeor, follow her on Twitter @Jhakeylew or donate at www.justgiving.com/Jackie-Lewis31

She and her fundraising team have currently raised £27,005.86 and are 81 per cent on their way towards their next fundraising target of £33,333.33. The next fundraising event will be a quiz night at the St Julian’s Conservative Club on September 26, tickets cost £3.