Christmas card cartoon saves lives

20/12/2005

A national cartoonist will help sketch a brighter future by generating thousands of pounds for charity.

David Haldane, who has been a cartoonist for 20 years and lives in Northumberland, has designed the front of the Northumbrian Water 2005 Christmas card.  Every Christmas card posted will raise 50p for the water company’s adopted international charity, WaterAid.

Five thousand cards will be posted raising a minimum of £2,500 – saving more than 150 lives.  The original cartoon will also be sold generating more money for the life-changing charity.

WaterAid provides clean water, sanitation and hygiene education for people in Africa and Asia.  It costs only £15 to save a life.  A child dies every 15 seconds from a waterborne illness.

Fifty-one-year-old David, from Morpeth, said: “I was thrilled when asked to design the front of Northumbrian Water’s Christmas card, especially when I was told a donation is going to be made to WaterAid.  Sketching to save lives for the future means so much to me.

“In the North East we take clean, safe drinking water for granted – it is there with a simple turn of a tap.  People in parts of Asia and Africa have to walk several miles every day to get one bucket of dirty water for their family which carries many fatal diseases.  We should appreciate this vital ingredient for life.”

David Haldane designs cartoons for trade press and national newspapers on a regular basis including The Times and Sunday Express.

For further information please contact Joanne Dye on 0191 301 6733.