THE FRIENDS and family of tragic Doug Wildman, who died in a car accident, are joining forces a year after his death to raise money for charity in his memory.
The popular 27 year old, known as Dougie Fresh, was killed after his van left the road on the Farthings Hill roundabout on the A24 between Horsham and Broadbridge Heath in the early hours of the morning of December 7.
There was a huge outpouring of grief, with tributes flooding in from all over the town.
Dougie lived with his mum, Brenda Snowdon, and sister, Kelly, at Saxon Crescent. He left another sister, Debbie, and brother, Daniel.
One of his closest friends, Steve Clark, contacted the County Times.
He said: "As it's coming up to his first anniversary, a few of his friends and family have got together and we wanted to do something to remember him by, something where we could raise some money and maybe one good thing could come from his sad, untimely death.
"Doug's mum's biggest wish was she didn't want everyone to be depressed, she wanted to get something out of it and raise money for charity."
On Saturday next week (December 5), a charity horse racing and casino night is to be held at The Coot pub, Cootes Avenue, starting at 7pm.
There will be a roulette table, a blackjack table, a full race night with Doug's Bookies and a raffle with some great prizes that have been donated.
Steve added: "We should raise a nice little sum. All money raised will go to a charity.
"We have even had lots of 'funny' money printed up for the gambling purposes - 100 dollar bills edited to include Doug's face on them and re-done to become Dougie Dollars.
"We've decided the money raised should go somewhere local, have something to do with kids and or sport as Dougie was a keen sportsman and he loved kids."
The ideal place, his friends and family decided, was to donate the money to Greenway School in the town.
Steve has spoken to the headteacher and the head of PE and the offer has been gratefully accepted.
He added: "They think that they can use the money to buy some excellent equipment and it would also greatly help a scheme they are trying to set up to help kids who don't like sports to become more active and involved, so that is excellent news."
A Facebook group has been set up at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142722903786&ref=nf. for anyone who needs more information about the event
Steve said: "This will probably turn into an annual 'Doug-athon' so at least something good has come from the sadness.
"Everyone has put in a lot of hard work and effort for the night, so I am thankful to everyone."
