MARY HOWARDTributes have flooded in for a woman who raised more than a £1m for charity and started the biggest empire of craft and food fairs in the country.Mary Howard died in a road accident as she left her latest sale at a hangar at the former Hullavington airbase in Wiltshire on 9 November, 2008.The 63-year-old, described as a “legend” by her thousands of customers, stallholders and charities, was travelling to London for her granddaughter's birthday party.Her sales empire had expanded from tiny craft fairs in the Cotswolds near her home in Moreton-in-Marsh to massive venues such as racecourses and the Hullavington hangar.The 2008 Christmas sale, which is likely to attract thousands, continued for the rest of the week when she died. Her family agreed the event should go ahead despite the tragedy.One stallholder, Caroline Smiley, said Mrs Howard was one in a million. She said: "She was an absolutely amazing person, and everyone at the sale is just so saddened and shocked."It is difficult to put into words what kind of person she was. She was a legend, a giving, uplifting person who had such incredible energy. She started her sales from nothing and just had such drive to make them huge. She was always smiling, always knew everyone's name and how they were doing."She was a force of nature and never stopped, never snapped at anyone no matter how stressful things were, and just did so much. And all this, which took over her life, she did for charity."The Mary Howard Sales raised more than £1m for about 50 charities, from national causes to local ones, and with other events and fundraising drives, it is estimated the total probably topped £2m.One of the good causes to benefit from the sales was the Dorothy House Hospice in Wiltshire, which was her nominated charity two years running."She invited us to get involved and it was such an amazing event, which we really benefited from," said Paula Smith, the hospice's community fundraiser."She was a very generous person, and was always positive and just went around this huge hangar, filling it with her personality. Everyone loved her and as a charity, we and all the other charities, are devastated by this news."Mrs Howard was the mother of four sons and grandmother to nine. Her husband Paddy worked with her in creating the sales empire.
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