A GROUP of friends from West Cumbria raised money for charity through a memorial walk at the weekend.

The walkers made the 20-mile trip from Workington to Allonby on Sunday in memory of Sandra Benson, from Seaton, who died last year.

Sue Adams, a close friend of Sandra's, organised the walk.

She said: "We got soaked but it was a good day. We had more people turn up that what we thought there would be. There were 16 of us.

"Geoff [Sandra's husband] walked with us to Flimby and her daughter took over from Flimby to Allonby.

"Her dad, who's 81, joined us for the last mile."

Sandra died of cancer in December after a short battle with cancer.

She was aged 54 when she passed away and worked as a care assistant in the Ellerbeck Ward at Workington Community Hospital.

So far the walkers have raised £2,200 for Cancer Research UK.

Sue said: "It was very emotional, especially at the beginning.

"Geoff was quite emotional because he didn’t expect the response. Although he knew how popular Sandra was, because he knew everyone loved her, I think he was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of people that actually turned out.

"As we got to the cemetery we got quite emotional again. But when we got to Allonby we were all cheering and clapping."

The group started at Workington Station at 10am and stopped at Maryport Cemetery, where there is a memorial plaque for Sandra.

They continued on to Allonby, where they had refreshments at The Ship Hotel.

Sue said that the group received lots of support as they made their journey.

"There were lots of people beeping.

"There was a group of people from Seaton who were friends with Sandra who didn’t do the walk but supported us by stopping every so often and were there with water and crisps.

"At the train station a member of staff came out with a huge case of bottles of water for us, which was nice."

After the success of this year's walk, the group have decided that they will make this a yearly event.

They will continue to raise money for Cancer Research UK each time.

You can donate to the JustGiving page at https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/oldest-and-bestest.