Local legend’s selfless gesture to ‘help future generations of Merseyside and Cheshire’

More than £14,500 has been donated to a Merseyside cancer charity by a ‘local legend’ as he redistributes funds raised for a legal action against the Home Office. Clatterbridge Cancer Charity is one of three charities to receive funding alongside Boaz Trust and Wirral Foodbank.

Nelson Shardey, 75, ran Nelson’s News on Borough Road in Seacombe for 31 years, from 1991 to 2022, but has lived in the UK since November 1977. He considered himself a British citizen, paid tax and worked hard, but in 2019, he was told. he did not have official permission to stay in the UK.

That started a long legal battle to get Nelson indefinite leave to stay with his family, pending a court appearance later this year. During this time he also underwent treatment for prostate cancer. Had the family lost the case, they would have had to pay Home Office legal fees and spend thousands restarting a 10-year road to resolution.

After LDRS, The Guardian and the BBC reported on the story in May, there was widespread outrage and thousands of people rose up to support their legal effort. The family said Wallasey MP Dame Angela Eagle also wrote a letter to the Home Office in May arguing the case was unacceptable.

The family’s fundraiser smashed its target of £20,000 in one day and raised more than £47,000. However, the Home Office dropped the case, meaning the money is now distributed to three charities close to Nelson’s heart.

Anthony Jones, Community Fundraising Manager for Clatterbridge said: “We are delighted with the amount of money the family have donated to the charity. I know it is something very special for Nelson, who was treated at our Wirral centre.

“The support is amazing. It’s such a beautiful story with Nelson and everything that led up to it. We are simply delighted”

He said one of the main things the charity funds is research into cancer treatment, including a possible cancer vaccine. He said: “Nelson gives us the chance to help local people with cancer in the future and we hope to get to the point where many cancers will be much more treatable and less intrusive,” adding: “It will absolutely help in the future. generations of Merseyside and Cheshire.”

He said the family would be recognized for the donation on a dove sculpture in the charity’s Winter Garden, adding: “It’s just wonderful how things add up sometimes. Someone who has been treated and he and his family are grateful for that and then being able to help us in this way.”