A DAUGHTER is taking part in Bolton Hospice’s Midnight Memories Walk in memory of her father.

Belinda John lost her father in February after he suffered a cardiac arrest following an operation.

The mother-of-three from Hawksheath Close, in Dunscar, decided to take part in the eight-mile-walk in tribute to her 78-year-old father Roy Leonard Smith.

Mrs John, aged 50, said: “I wanted to do the walk as a way of turning something negative into something positive.

“The hospice is an essential service for Bolton and a lot of people know someone who has been cared for there.

“Although my dad wasn’t cared for by Bolton Hospice he was very supportive of charities throughout his life, especially local charities, so I thought this would be a fitting tribute to him."

Mrs John will be walking alongside her daughter and friends for the event and has so far raised £110 for the cause.

The walk will start at 10pm this year— in celebration of its 10th anniversary —and will set off from Victoria Square on June 18.

Mrs John, a teaching assistant, added: “It will be both mine and my husband’s first Father’s Day without our dads.

“Every year you expect that you will spend the day with your dad so this year will be difficult.

“He was a very loyal, hard-working and just a genuinely nice person.

“He had good principles and was very fair, he would help anyone out.”

Mr Smith, lived in Belmont Road with his wife Maureen, and had two children Belinda and Richard.

He died at Wythenshawe Hospital on February 18 after an operation to treat skin cancer.

Mrs John added: “He will be missed by many, more than 250 people turned up at his funeral which is a true reflection of how many people cared for him.

“I have done the walk before and it is a great atmosphere and a good way of making a difference.

“Smaller charities don’t get as much help and I know that my dad would be happy that I was doing this for the Hospice and him.”