Island fund-raiser Lily Blanshard has passed away.

The 85-year-old died on May 13 in Medway Maritime Hospital after a battle with heart disease.

Lily was blinded as a six-year-old child after an accident with some barbed wire and she was best known in Sheppey for her charity work for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

After attending a boarding school for the blind in Sevenoaks, Lily worked as a telephonist in London.

She and husband Tom, 86, moved to Sheppey in 1946, after getting married in 1945.

They had four children – Phillip, who died from a heart attack six years ago, Sylvia, 60, and twins Erica and Martin, 57.

Tom worked as a farm labourer in Harty before working at an engineering company.

He still lives at the couple’s home in Blatcher Close, Minster.

As well as bringing up four children and raising money for blind causes, Lily also wrote Braille, had classical singing training and regularly visited local schools to talk about blindness and guide dogs.

Lily’s daughter, Sylvia Foreman, said: “Over the years mum had become less able to get about and she broke her hip four years ago, she had many heart attacks and just couldn’t keep going any longer.

“She was brilliant, such a great mum, and she never thought she had a handicap.

“When we were growing up we never thought she was any different to anyone else’s mum.”

Lily had a total of six guide dogs throughout her life, and Vinny, her most recent one, passed away two years ago.