Charity fundraiser to stand as Lib Dem candidate in Dudley elections

Vi Wood, founder of Leslie’s Care Packages, will be hoping to win a seat in the Pedmore and Stourbridge East ward for the party which currently has one councillor in the authority.

Mrs Wood began her charity, which is dedicated to supporting vulnerable and homeless people, in memory of her late husband who died in 2016 after developing cancer.

She said: “I have spent the better part of the last decade supporting people in need across the West Midlands.

“But it is clear to me that until we fix our broken politics, people will continue to be left behind.”

The German-born charity worker and her family faced racial abuse when they moved to England where her husband was born.

In her blog, Mrs Wood described the harrowing ordeal her family faced.

She said: “My children were verbally and physically abused.

“The house we lived in got attacked on many occasions, eggs and flour was thrown at the windows."

The family moved house and eventually the abuse stopped but by then, Leslie had developed the illness which would eventually take his life.

Following her husband’s death, Mrs Wood faced a five-month battle to be awarded benefits and shortly after she found work as a caregiver and began her charity work.

Since then, her work to relieve poverty either through providing goods or helping people gain access to services has been recognised with awards and nominations .

Lib Dem councillor Ryan Priest said: “Vi has exactly the kind of experience and skills that Dudley Council is missing.

“A proper community activist who does it out of the goodness of her heart, not just to get elected and certainly not just at election time.”

Mrs Wood will fight the election on Thursday May 2 alongside fellow Lib Dems former councillor David Sheppard and accountant and former Dudley Town FC manager Nigel Kirkham.