A FUNDRAISER has found herself an influential bag-packing assistant to encourage donations from supermarket shoppers today on Portland.

South Dorset MP Richard Drax will be helping Pauline Lewington to pack shopping bags at Tesco superstore in Easton from 2pm until 3.30pm in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society.

It is a cause close to Mrs Lewington’s heart as her husband Ken, who passed away last November, suffered from dementia, which robbed them of their golden years together.

Retired Mrs Lewington worked alongside her husband as a film industry costume designer for many years before returning to Weymouth and becoming the manager of Weymouth’s Chipmunks Day Nursery.

She is campaigning to raise £3,200 to undertake a challenging charity trek in Peru next May and has so far raised £1,200 by selling homemade recycled material cards at car boot sales and community events.

Mrs Lewington, 64, said: “I lost my husband last year, he had dementia and I’m raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society.

“Today I’m packing bags at Portland’s Tesco from 12pm until 11pm supported by family and friends.

“Richard Drax is also going to come and bag pack with me from 2pm until 3.30pm, we’ll have buckets with us so people can donate.

“My husband Ken was 80 when he passed away.He was in the Chalbury Unit at Weymouth Community Hospital and we had terrific support from the staff.

“He died in November and then I saw an Alzheimer’s Society advert for a fundraising trek in Peru, taking place in May 2012.

“Peru is somewhere Ken and I had always planned to go but never got around to.

“When you lose someone you feel a bit lost so I was really pleased to have this opportunity to do something positive.”

Mrs Lewington, of Portland Road, met her husband in 1966 in Weymouth when he visited the resort for six months as wardrobe master for the film Far from the Madding Crowd.

She said: “We got together and I worked with him in the film industry, we travelled all over the world, including Europe, India for the bond film Octopussy, Africa and New York for the film Highlander.

“We had a brilliant life together.”

To support Mrs Lewington’s cause online visit the website: www.justgiving.com/Pauline-Lewington