Charity walk for Sidmouth’s Frank to aid FORCE

Seven relatives and a dog will walk from Sidmouth to Warwickshire in April to raise money for FORCE cancer charity.

SEVEN relatives and a dog will walk from Sidmouth to Warwickshire in April to raise money for FORCE cancer charity.

They are doing it in memory of Frank Hodgkins, who died from lung cancer, aged 75, last October.

Daughter Diane Hartnell said: “No words we could ever write would manage to describe how much we want to achieve this task set in memory of a fabulous person and to raise funds for a worthwhile cause such as FORCE.”

The walkers will leave Primley Mead, Sidmouth, on Saturday, April 9, and travel to Frank’s birthplace in Wilmcote, near Stratford Upon Avon in Warwickshire.

Ellie the terrier never left Frank’s side, even for food, for the last few days of Frank’s life, said Diane, whose photo shows Ellie with him, riding along Sidmouth seafront.

She, her daughters Penny Marsh and Trudi, son-in-law Ashley Marsh, Malcolm Street, Rob Thistle, family and friends, will undertake the walk over Easter.

Frank, who moved with his family to Sidmouth in 1971, loved steam trains and is also pictured, aged 17, in his first job working on the railway at Stratford Upon Avon station.

*Donations can be made for Frank’s walk to www.justgiving.com/diane-hartnell.