A FORMER firefighter from Denbigh who has raised more £15,000 for Cancer Research UK since he retired is now offering a helping hand to those forced to flee Ukraine.
Big-hearted Robin Wynne-Jones, 71, who served with the North Wales Fire Service for 25 years and rose to the post of station officer responsible for the most serious emergency call-outs, wanted nothing more than to carry on helping others when he retired in 2000.
So he answered a UK-wide call for people willing to busk to raise money for cancer research.
WATCH Robin Wynne-Jones performing.
He started out on home turf singing and playing his guitar in Denbigh and then spread further afield, often busking in Llangollen and other places linked to the canal network where he and his wife, Diane, would spend many weeks of the summer months afloat on their narrowboat, The Snowdrop.
He launched a Just Giving site online as 'Robin The Busker' to accept all fundraising donations.
Brilliantly, that site has just exceeded £15,000.
Earlier this month, Robin, who lives on Grove Road, in Denbigh, rallied all his musician pals from folk clubs across North Wales to join him in a special day-long fundraiser in the town for Refugees from Ukraine.
They came from far and wide and sang and played non-stop for six hours at the old fire station at Denbigh Town Hall, raising an impressive £700.
“I can't thank everyone enough," said Robin.
MORE: Support our There With Ukraine appeal
“We wanted to raise as much as we could and to raise awareness for the plight of those poor souls forced to flee their homes with next to nothing.
"Most of all we wanted the refugees to know that we care.
“The people of Denbigh were magnificent, as I knew they would be, in their support and in their generosity.”
Since then, Robin has busked on his own at the town's Morrisons store boosting the total for Ukraine by another £135.
MORE: Denbighshire Ukraine refugees support
“As long as I am able I will never stop doing what I can,” said Robin, who certainly has the full support of his two daughters Abigail and Kellie and his wife Diane, who worked with adults with learning disabilities for many years before becoming a teaching assistant at Denbigh High School.
Robin's fundraising site for Cancer Research UK can be reached here.
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