A GRANDMOTHER who lost her daughter to cancer is preparing to take part in the Midnight Beach Walk to help pay tribute to the work of Weston Hospicecare. Jean Milton started as a volunteer at the charity 16 years ago, and knows better than most how import

A GRANDMOTHER who lost her daughter to cancer is preparing to take part in the Midnight Beach Walk to help pay tribute to the work of Weston Hospicecare.Jean Milton started as a volunteer at the charity 16 years ago, and knows better than most how important it is to its community.But she says taking her daughter Cheryl into the Uphill hospice was still the hardest thing she has ever had to do.Jean, who lives in Brent Knoll, is planning to take part in the Midnight Beach Walk on September 15 with her 17-year-old granddaughter Hannah along with hundreds of other women who want to help the hospice raise the £1.7million it needs to keep it running every year. The women-only walk, supported by the Weston & Somerset Mercury, will take place for five miles from the Uphill end of Weston beach to the Marine Lake and back.Cheryl was diagnosed with ovarian cancer on her 47th birthday four years ago and Jean, aged 71, says she could see the strain on her fade away when she sat down in her room at the hospice's headquarters, Jackson Barstow House.Jean believes the service Cheryl was offered was second-to-none and not only helped her but her family, including her three sons and her daughter.She said: "The treatment, health care, nurses and right down to the cleaners, everything was brilliant."It was so clean and pristine and lovely and I want people to know how good it was. No-one wants to go into a hospice but people don't have anything to fear. It is such a loving and peaceful environment."Jean recently raised about £2,000 for hospicecare by holding a cream tea event in Brent Knoll. Everything at the event was homemade and it was held in a marquee in the grounds of her neighbour Malin Basil's home. Jean has held cream tea events for several years in aid of charity.* More details will be released about the event over the coming weeks and in the meantime women who want to take part are urged to sign up online at www.westonhospicecare.org.uk/midnightbeachwalk or call 01934 423921 for more details.