GRIEVING family and friends of a mother who lost her battle against cancer are to raise money for two charities close to their hearts.

Margaret Bramham, 31, died last month from a rare form of bladder cancer, leaving four young children, John, 10, Keeley, seven, Rebecca, two, and Jamie, one.

The children are now being cared for by their grandparents, Isobel and John.

It is the second tragedy to hit the family in recent years. Margaret's younger brother James was killed in a horrific accident at work six years ago.

Margaret's sister Isobel, of Olive Lane, Darwen, hopes to hold a fancy dress pub crawl to collect cash in Margaret's name on Saturday October 10.

"It's the sort of thing Margaret would have organised herself." explained Isobel. "She lived life to the full and was always the life and soul of the party."

The money will be split between the Macmillan Nurse Appeal and the East Lancashire Hospice because Margaret was helped by both after being diagnosed with the disease last December.

Isobel added: "She was really popular and very well known in Darwen. About 400 people went to the funeral so we are hoping to collect a lot of money.

"Her has death hit the family very hard but everybody has been wonderful."

Anybody who would like to get involved in the fund-raiser should ring Isobel on 01254 706627.

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