Langwith President in shock name change

Langwith College President Symone Thompson says she’s ditching her current name – for charity.

The leading Langwith figure plans to change her name by deed poll for one based on a character from book series Lord of the Rings.

She is doing it to kickstart her fundraising for next year’s Guatemala trekking trip in aid of the charity Hope for Children.

From the 1 January 2014, Symone will be known as Gimli Son of Gloin. She told Vision: “I’m changing it [my name] to Gimli Son of Gloin, it’s for charity and the name was suggested to me by a friend. Apparently I have similar characteristics to the loveable dwarf.”

Student Symone plans to stick with the name for the whole of next term after raising more than £300 in cash, but she hasn’t ruled out extending that further.

“I’ve planned to stick with it for all of term 2, for now anyway,” she said.

The Langwith President said the main reaction to the name change from friends and family had been “disbelief” but also “admiration.”

“I think the main reaction has been disbelief, I promised I would do it temporarily if I raised the money I proposed but they just couldn’t believe that I’d actually done it; admiration for doing it was also a reaction to it. A lot of them were surprisingly proud of my commitment to raising the money,” she added.

Miss Thompson’s charity supports improving the lives of children around the world.

But it’s not the first time an individual has changed their name for charity.

In 2012, a 41-year-old woman from Hartlepool changed her 11-letter name to 161 letters for a young person’s charity.

And in September this year, a couple from America changed their last names to “Squigglebottoms” in aid of a poverty relief charity.

Symone, or soon-to-be Gimli, was elected the president of Langwith College last month, after serving as the college’s campaigns officer.

You can donate to Symone’s cause by visiting: https://2014yorks.everydayhero.com/uk/symone-s-guatemala-challenge-1.