The friends and family of the late Les Smith have kindly donated a generous gift to SHINE in his memory.

They chose SHINE because Les was deeply passionate about access to education and encouraging everyone to become their best self and reach their full potential.

Originally from Durham, in the North East, he retired to the Wirral, on Merseyside, where he played an active role in encouraging his two granddaughters to read. He accompanied them to local libraries to choose books, and eagerly followed their progress through school.

He was delighted when they went on to gain places at university, to study Law and Primary Education.

His youngest granddaughter, Chloe, has now graduated with BA(Hons) Primary English Education with a secondary specialism in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and is now a reception teacher in Birkenhead, Wirral.

SHINE would like to thank the friends and family of Les for this generous gift, which will help projects that give children in North of England a fair chance to succeed at school.