HAMPSHIRE television star Sarah Parish has told the Daily Echo of her pride for her daughter as the charity set up in her memory held its first fundaiser.

Sarah and husband Jim Murray were at the heart of a fundraising five-kilometre walk around Southampton Common yesterday  in aid of their charity the Murray Parish Trust.

It raises funds towards Southampton General Hospital’s new paediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
Ella-Jayne

Sarah said every pound raised will remind her of daughter Ella-Jayne, who  died at only eight months old. She told how the funds raised would help other sick children, but was also a way to keep her daughter’s memory alive.

The couple, who live near Alresford, have been supporting the hospital’s work since losing first child Ella-Jayne to congenital heart disease six years ago. The Murray Parish Trust launched at the beginning of the year.

Sarah said they had wanted to create something in memory of their daughter.

“When you get a traumatic time like that to get something positive out of it is a way to get through it,” she said.

“We lost her but hopefully she’s going to save hundreds and hundreds of lives.

“I’m very proud of her today.”

The event, which the couple are hoping to stage every year, attracted around 250 people and is thought to have raised around £5,000. Prizes for those who raised the most money included a signed

Saints football and a tour of the set of television series Atlantis with Sarah, who stars in the BBC drama, and the chance to be an extra.

Many from the couple’s local community took part, but there were also families who were themselves touched by the work of the children’s ward.

Jim and the couple’s daughter Nell, 4, took part in the walk and he said it had been good to hear other family’s experiences.

“You forget very quickly the painful side of it,” said Jim.

“For me it’s incredibly moving.”

Walkers included Joanne Snell, of Marchwood, who had come with husband Jamie, 42, and children Finlay, eight, and Oliver, three.

They walked because Oliver, who was born with a major heart condition, has undergone two open-heart operations at Southampton General Hospital. 

The 42-year-old, of Park Close, said: “Without Southampton [hospital] we wouldn’t have him so we support everything that they do.”

The Murray Parish Trust aims to raise £1 million in the next three years for the new unit, which is set to open in 2020.