Coronavirus: NI woman’s Captain Tom painting helps Premier League Wolves with NHS fundraising drive

A Lurgan woman has helped raise funds for an English Premier League team’s NHS appeal by contributing a painting of Captain Tom Moore.

Denise Dennison, who moved to England in the 1980s with her husband and professional footballer Robbie, put her paintbrush to great use with the portrait for the Wolverhampton Wanderers’ fundraising drive for their local NHS.

Denise said: “I’m in my 50s now, I only started painting two years ago.

“I did art at school, I knew I was quite good at it but I’d never done a painting in my life.

“I liked looking at paintings and talking about painting, my daughter said to stop talking about it and just do it.

“I found a class, all people my age, sitting around and following instruction from a teacher in a studio. It was very relaxing.

“I got the hang of it alright having turned up to the first class with next to none of the right materials.”

She added: “I enjoy painting from time to time.

“It’s times like these when there are so many thing we can’t control.

“When you’re painting you don’t think of anything else so that’s good for me. It’s a hobby which I really enjoy.

“I started off doing paintings for people as a birthday present. I have a sister Ruth in Northern Ireland who has a pilot’s licence. I did her a little portrait of her in a plane.

“I just started the painting of Captain Tom because I admired what he did. I tried to incorporate the colours of the rainbow in the background.”

Denise’s husband Robbie left Glenavon for West Brom in 1985, then moved to Wolves where he became a club legend, scoring in the club’s Wembley final win over Burnley in 1988.

He suggested she auction the painting to help with the club’s fundraising drive.

Denise said: “I was very aware that Captain Tom had already raised a phenomenal amount for the NHS so a lot of people’s money had already gone to that.

“People have less money coming in and we’re all being asked to donate to the same thing, yet people have been very generous.”

She said: “The painting raised about £875 at raffle, and whoever won it put it back in for auction and it raised another £525 on top of that. I’m very happy with that.”

Denise and Robbie, who come from Lurgan and Gilford respectively, now live in Halesowen, West Midlands.

Robbie’s nephew Gary Hamilton is the manager of Glenavon, the club that he and his brother Davy both played for in the 1980s.

Former Wolves captain Karl Henry has been working with Wolves Foundation and former players to raise funds for the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

The Premier League club are pursuing an overall target of £50,000 to be donated to the trust.

To donate go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/captaintom

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