THE organiser of the York RAF association’s annual appeal has died aged 74 after helping to raise almost £44,000 in four years.

Maureen Smith - who was Christened ‘Lady Wings’ by the York branch of RAFA because of her fundraising success for its Wings Appeal - died earlier this month at her home in Stockton Lane after a six-month battle against cancer.

Her husband Ian said the plate at her funeral will collect for the appeal, and RAFA and Royal British Legion standards will be lowered and raised during the service.

He said the funeral would take place at 11am on Friday, February 1 at Holy Trinity Church, Heworth, where Maureen was both Christened and married, followed by interment at York Cemetery.

He said Maureen was born in York and attended Tang Hall Infant School and Burnholme School and then the city’s technical college, where she learnt to type.

She then joined the RAF in a clerical grade, and served for almost three years, during which time they met and got engaged, marrying in 1965. They went on to have two children, Jason and Wendy.

He said she later joined the Royal British Legion, helping at its annual Poppy Appeal for a quarter of a century, and subsequently joined the York branch of RAFA, becoming appeal organiser in 2015. Since then, the appeal had raised a total of £43,961 in four years.

Branch president John Mawson said: “Maureen exceeded our previous collections over the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, and passed our targets with over £10,000 each year.

“These achievements involved her being Christened our ‘Lady Wings’ and she was very proud of this title.

“Maureen will be sadly and greatly missed at our York branch, and we send our condolences and best wishes to Ian and their family.”

Maureen told The Press last year how the appeal raised funds to provide welfare and support to members of the RAF and their families past and present, in times of hardship.

She said it funded respite breaks for people with medical or welfare needs, provided sheltered housing and advice and support, paying 26,000 welfare visits each year, and helped people involved in all conflicts, and not just the Second World War - right up to Iraq and Afghanistan in recent times.

Ian said he had now volunteered to take over as organiser for this year’s appeal.

He said Maureen had become a Freeman of the City of York in a ceremony at the Mansion House in 2006 after carrying out some research and discovering her grandfather had been a Freeman. “She was very proud of being a Freeman,” he said.

He thanked several organisations for their help during her illness, including the hospital’s palliative care team, McMillan Nurses, the St Leonard’s Hospice at Home team and the district nurses.

He also thanked the RAFA itself, for providing a great deal of support for a member who had done so much for it over recent years.