Crowd Funding
1,800 garden gnomes from Lincolnshire have got together and raised over £1,500 for charity. Actually the gnomes represent half a century’s work of the late Mr Ron Broomfield who recently died aged 80. Ron the Gnome who lived in Gnome Cottage started collecting the little people after his marriage ended. His niece Ms Patricia Hammond explains how he built up such a collection, “He bought the gnomes, took them home and they kept smiling at him. After that, every time he saw a gnome he bought it and he would ask for gnomes as presents for Christmas and birthdays.” Throughout his life the former window cleaner raised thousands of pounds for a variety of charities including the NSPCC. Now his gnomes have kept his legacy going by agreeing to be put up for auction for the Alford First Responders charity. All that is, apart from Sandy, Ron’s favourite, who he took everywhere with him. Sandy has been taken in by Ron’s niece.