The life story of a Telford pensioner, entitled Wandering Child, has raised £100 towards the Shropshire Star’s Flying Doctor Appeal.

The appeal aims to raise £70,000 to fund a Flying Doctor to join the crew of the Shropshire-based air ambulance.

Violet Yapp, 80, decided to contribute to it with part of the proceeds from selling the booklet about her life. “I just sold it to people I know, and then it went by word of mouth,” said Mrs Yapp, of Lawley Bank.

The booklet, which cost £3, has now sold out and has also raised £100 to another worthy cause.

“I have given £100 to the Rock Methodist Church, where I go. The Sunday School has to be refurbished and we’re trying to raise money to do that,” said Mrs Yapp, who came to Shropshire in 1945.

“I did not really write it for public use. In the first place, it was for my children, because all my life I had spent travelling around different places.

“Although I talked about these to my children, I had not told them the full story and I thought it would be a good idea to write it down.

“I started in 2002, but then I lost my husband so it was put on hold. Then the children said ‘Why don’t you pick it up again and do it? and I thought I would.

“Then they said ”Why don’t you sell it?’ – I had already done a poetry book years and years ago which sold and the money went to charity.

“So I thought yes, if I do it, maybe I can raise some money for charity, so that’s really how it came about.

“I was born in Cheshire and then, because my dad was a farm worker, we travelled to different places because sometimes the wages were poor, or perhaps because they had a row and of course it was tied cottages in those days so you had to move somewhere else.”

* Read our appeal stories here and print off a donation form so you can send us any cash you have raised.

* Have you got something planned to support our Flying Doctor Appeal? Then don’t forget to let us know about it so we can highlight your effort. Drop a line to: Toby Neal, Shropshire Star, Ketley, Telford, Shropshire TF1 5HU, phone (01952) 241458, or e-mail tneal@shropshirestar.co.uk