Meet the supermum who has been crowned The Sun’s Mum Idol after taking on school bullies
JULIE OAKLEY has been crowned our Mum Idol after two decades of helping victims of bullying.
She set up a support group, took her fight to No10 and helped to introduce bullying tsars across the UK after her daughter Stacey was targeted at school.
The mother of two battled on even after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013.
She was nominated for The Sun on Sunday’s Mum Idol contest, with a prize worth £15,000, by her daughter Samantha.
Julie, 62, from Bristol, said: “I am thrilled to have won.
“I am proud of the work I have done helping children over the years.
“But I certainly didn’t expect this. It is amazing.
“I know there are thousands of mums out there that are deserving. I can’t tell you how happy I am.”
Samantha, 33, a quantity surveyor, said: “She has helped so many young people and made a real difference to their lives. I’m incredibly proud of her.”
Julie was bullied as a child herself, so when her 15-year-old daughter Stacey, who is now 37, received death threats and physical abuse that left her feeling suicidal in 2001, she was devastated.
Julie said: “The bullying blighted everything.
“Initially, I wanted Stacey’s bully taken out of school.
“But then I started to look into this issue in depth.
“I realised I could have a bigger impact by challenging that young person’s behaviour and working with them to make changes.
“A child might think bullying is the norm as that’s what happens in their home. So I launched charity Bullywatch.”
She wrote to the then-Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife Cherie, who backed her.
Julie, who also has a school safeguarding role, said: “I just wrote to Cherie as a mother. But she was amazing. At a conference about anti-bullying in London, she spoke about Stacey and others whose lives were being blighted because of bullying.
“I went to the Education Department and then it was announced that there would be nine anti- bullying tsars introduced across the country.
“People from all over the UK and abroad then started to get in touch for advice.”
Julie was also a huge support to daughter Stacey when her partner Matt — the dad of her two daughters, Ava, nine and Aurora, seven — was killed in a car crash in 2018.
It was in the same year that Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She said: “I went for my first routine mammogram in a bus in a car park at Morrisons. It took five minutes.”
And it saved her life. She said: “I had a mastectomy, chemo and radiotherapy.”
Post-recovery, Julie set up new project Dragonfly Community Interest Company, which helps young people with emotional issues.
Julie added: “It’s tough with lack of funds.
“But then you work with a child who says, ‘Thank you. I can do this now,’ and it’s all worthwhile.”
Julie will be taking her husband Dave and their granddaughters on the prize of a 14-night, all-inclusive Mediterranean cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ Sky Princess.
She has also won a VIP pamper day at a hair salon, a bottomless brunch and a professional photoshoot for winning Mum Idol.
Eithne Williamson, who is Princess Cruises’ UK and Europe vice-president, said: “Julie is extraordinary, and a deserved winner.”