Britain's longest-serving poppy seller jumped to her death after being hounded by dozens of charities begging for her money.
Olive Cooke, 92, threw herself from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol last week after ‘losing her faith in people’.
The widow – who admitted she found it hard to say no – had been overwhelmed by receiving hundreds of letters and phone calls every month asking her for yet more donations.
Scroll down for video
Dedicated: Olive Cooke, pictured selling poppies outside Bristol Cathedral in 2013, was found dead last week
Honoured: Mrs Cooke vowed to sell the flowers each year when her beloved first husband Leslie, pictured with Mrs Cooke on their wedding day in 1941, was killed in action during the Second World War
Close friend Michael Earley said: ‘She felt she had given so much and she couldn’t give any more.’ Last night MPs called for reforms to stop charities preying on the vulnerable.
Great-grandmother Mrs Cooke, of Bristol, started selling poppies in 1938 when she was 16 after her father served in Gallipoli during the First World War.
And she vowed to continue after her first husband Leslie Hussey-Yeo was killed at war in 1943, when she was 21. It is thought she sold more than 30,000 over nearly eight decades.
Friends and family said the former postal worker gave away most of her state pension but had begun to struggle with her finances. Until last year, she had monthly direct debits to 27 charitable organisations.
In October, Mrs Cooke told her local newspaper that she was being ‘overwhelmed’ by more than 260 charity letters a month.
She said: ‘I read every single one but my problem is I’ve always been one that reads about the cause, then can’t say no. The stories play on people’s generosity.
‘I have started to just put all the letters into a big box, and then I have to spend my Sunday afternoons sorting them all out ready for the recycling – but some weeks it takes even longer.’
She added: ‘I believe some of the charities must have passed my details on, as I then start getting letters from other similar causes.’ She also said she believed she was being targeted because she was elderly and might have money to spare.
Tribute: A lone poppy was left at the Avon Gorge, seen with Clifton Suspension Bridge in the background
Well-known: Mrs Cooke on the streets of Bristol, where she collected money before Remembrance Day
Her daughter Kathryn King, 61, last night said charities would call up asking for more money even if her mother was already donating to them. She also said one of those pestering her mother was mental health charity Mind.
She said: ‘It was too much for her. She was getting severe depression through lack of sleep. (The charities) should not hound people who have a mental illness.’
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner’s Office said: ‘This is a terribly sad story. The Data Protection Act sets out clearly that organisations, including charities, must be open and honest with people as to how they will use their data.
‘We will continue to act where there is evidence these rules have not been followed.’ Mr Earley, 72, said Mrs Cooke had also struggled to get over the disappearance of £250 cash she had sent her son through the post two months ago.
‘It was the constant phone calls and the constant asking for money. When someone is kind-hearted – they cotton on to it. When that £250 went she was not the same. She realised she couldn’t trust people.’
Tragic: Mrs Cooke's body was found by police in the Avon Gorge, Bristol, pictured from above today
Tireless: Mrs Cooke, pictured during a Poppy Appeal, won a number of awards for her fundraising efforts
Committed: Inspired by her father who set up a Royal British Legion branch in Bristol, Mrs Cooke began selling poppies in 1938 when she was 16 and is believed to have sold 30,000 poppies over 75 years
Mr Early also said she was also hounded by salesmen trying to sell solar panels, double glazing and computers. He added: ‘In the end her relations couldn’t contact her. She would not pick up the phone.’
Paul Farmer of Mind, said it would look into Mrs Cooke’s death. He added: ‘We would be very concerned if at any time we have acted inappropriately.’
Alistair McLean, of the Fundraising Standards Board, said: ‘The last thing that charities will want to do is to cause distress.’
How inspirational Olive raised thousands to honour lost love
Dedicated Olive Cooke would brave the cold and wet every November to sell poppies from the north-west porch of Bristol Cathedral.
Bringing her blanket and Thermos with her, she would stand from ten o’clock in the morning until 4pm each day.
Head verger Glynn Usher said: ‘It can be bitingly cold, but she never budged all day and refused any fuss.’
The 92-year-old would wear bravery medals awarded posthumously to her Navy husband Leslie who was killed in the Second World War aged 28 –when she was just 21.
Mrs Cooke had started selling poppies aged 16 after listening to tales from her father Fred Canning, who served in the Royal Irish Regiment in the First World War. It is estimated she sold more than 30,000 over 76 years.
Blushing bride: Mrs Cooke with her husband Leslie on her wedding day. She was widowed two years later
Recognised: Mrs Cooke stands outside Buckingham Palace (left) in 1944 after collecting her husband's posthumously awarded Distinguished Service Medal and in her husband's Navy uniform in 1939
On parade: The dedicated fundraiser (2nd from left) poses for the camera at a conference in 1964
Mr Usher said: ‘Olive loved to talk. She was always very polite, very old-school, but there were no barriers around her. I would often see her sharing her memories with the young people. There would be a great gaggle of them around her.
‘Obviously there was a lot of upset for her still about the tragic death of her first husband in the war, but hers wasn’t a remembrance of regret, or a doleful looking back.
‘Instead she spoke of herself as a living example of someone who had lived a good life because of the sacrifice that had been made, and of her gratitude for the gift that sacrifice had given all of us in the freedom to live our lives to the full. She was a force of nature.’
Mrs Cooke was also inspired to fundraise for the charity when her father helped to set up the Bedminster British Legion in Bristol which helped 12 returning soldiers get jobs at a tobacco factory.
Mother-of-three Mrs Cooke, from Fishponds, Bristol, met husband Leslie Hussey-Yeo, a handsome sailor with the Royal Navy who was about to leave the service and settle down, in 1939.
But the onset of war meant he had to continue serving on submarines and he was killed in action in 1943 during the Allied invasion of Sicily.
The poppy then took on a new significance for her and she pledged to continue to sell them, despite going on to remarry twice.
The grandmother-of-four would stand every year in the doorway of the cathedral, proudly wearing Leslie’s distinguished service medal awarded after his death for bravery in hazardous conditions. She became one of Britain’s best-known poppy sellers, and reckoned she sold about two boxes a year.
Remembered: Community leaders paid tribute to Mrs Cooke, pictured relaxing on Weymouth beach in 1948
Legacy: Mrs Cooke, right in 1937, was inspired to begin fundraising after her father, Fred Canning, (pictured centre, left image, in 1941) set up a Royal British Legion branch in Bristol
Leader: Olive Cooke, centre, pictured at a Royal Legion ladies meeting in the late 1940s
She was given a special medal by the Royal British Legion for her efforts and was last year honoured with the Points of Light award from the Prime Minister.
Speaking in 2013 after surviving breast cancer, Mrs Cooke – who was a postwoman for 17 years – vowed that she would ‘never give up’ selling her poppies. She said: ‘It is important to remember the people who died in the wars, and are still dying now.
‘My father, Fred Canning, was in the Royal Irish Regiment and he had told me tales of how he fought at Gallipoli in the First World War, ever since I was a little girl sitting on his knee.
‘I carried the standard for 54 years until 1998. I sold poppies every year and was given a special medal from the Royal British Legion for 66 years of continuous selling.
‘I’ve now added even more years to that and am up to 75 now.
‘There was a time when no one could go past without buying a poppy. It’s harder now but I’m still determined to help in whatever way I can.’
Speaking about the loss of her first husband, she added: ‘We had just two-and-a-half years together when he was killed on the submarine HMS Thunderbolt. Losing my husband when I was just 21 years of age, I vowed to always sell poppies.
‘He was a loving and genuine man, and I had great times with him in those couple of years we had together.’
Friends said Mrs Cooke also raised thousands of pounds for other charities but favoured the Royal British Legion and Christian Aid.
Close friend Michael Earley said that she loved to support any charities that helped children and women, both in the UK and abroad.
She leaves behind daughter Kathryn, son Del, grandchildren Louise, Kevin, Rhia and Jessica, and great-grandchildren Louis and Aeris.
David Lowe, The Royal British Legion’s area manager for the South West, said her fundraising was ‘remarkable’ and she would be greatly missed - but never forgotten. He said: ‘We are very sad to learn of the passing of Olive Cooke, who we came to respect and admire over more than seven-and-a-half decades of service to The Royal British Legion.
‘Olive’s remarkable efforts over the years should be highly commended.’
The Lord Mayor of Bristol, Alistair Watson, said: ‘She was a wonderful lady who dedicated her life to selling poppies and helping other people.
‘Our paths crossed at many events, and I was delighted to be able to award her the Lord Mayor’s medal last year. Her death is a big loss to the city of Bristol.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3081294/Britain-s-oldest-poppy-seller-dead-Avon-Gorge-aged-92.html#ixzz3aDAdlywe
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
