A WELSHPOOL man has raised £11,000 for charity after losing his wife to cancer, and is now encouraging others to support local charities.

Dean Gill has raised the funds for the Lingen Davies Cancer Centre in memory of his wife, Kate, who was a 42-year-old mother of two.

While fighting the disease, Kate underwent radiotherapy treatment at the centre, based at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The money was raised at Kate’s funeral, with £3,733 of the total raised being donated to the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund.

Dean has thanked everyone who has supported his fundraising efforts, and praised the work of the Lingen Davies Cancer Centre.

“I want to say a big thank you to everyone for their support,” he said.

“I’m really pleased my wife has left a legacy to benefit others, I would like to do more fundraising to honour her memory in the future.

“People take charities for granted, the Lingen Davies Centre is at the heart of the hospital and it’s so vital for patients.

“It’s not been an easy time but it was made easier by being able to get radiotherapy treatment in Shrewsbury. We are very grateful that the Lingen Davies centre was there, otherwise we could have been going backwards and forwards to Birmingham or Stoke.

“A hard situation would have been so much harder if the centre wasn’t there, it really eased the pressure and we would like to say an enormous thank you to everyone there in particular Di Evanson who looked after Kate for a long time.”

Mr Gill’s family and friends have been fundraising in her honour and an upcoming event at Welshpool Golf Club will boost the total figure further.

Helen Knight, development manager for Lingen Davies Cancer Fund, said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to the Gill family for their support, we’re so very sorry for their loss.

“Donations make such a large impact on the future work that we can do to help local people who are affected by cancer.”

To find out how you can donate to Lingen Davies Cancer Fund visit www.lingendavies.co.uk