Last updated at 16:49, Friday, 09 November 2012

A Maryport woman has pledged to lose five stone in honour of her friend who died of cancer earlier this year.

YOU CAN DO IT: Hayley Houghton, of Maryport, is encouraged by Ryan Steel, at Netherhall Community Sports Centre, to persevere with her fund-raising challenge in memory of her friend, Saranne Wilkinson

Hayley Houghton, 32, of Grasslot, hopes to raise at least £1,000 in memory of Saranne Wilkinson, of Oakland Avenue, Maryport, who died on Mother’s Day at the age of 32.

Hayley said: “I wanted to honour her memory in some way, to raise money and to do something that would make her as proud of me as I was of her.”

She has asked friends to sponsor her to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and for Dreams Come True, which helps terminally ill children.

She said: “If I can raise over £1,000 for Breakthrough I can get a brick with her name on it in a memorial wall which would be great.”

Hayley, who did not wish to reveal her current weight, is being helped by Maryport’s Netherhall Community Sports Centre which has given her free membership and the services of personal trainer Ryan Steel.

Ryan said Hayley would be weighed every couple of weeks and that they aimed for her to reach her goal within 12 months.

Hayley is planning more fund-raising in her friend’s name.

She added: “We held a fund-raising night in June and collected £14,600 for the Henderson Suite at the West Cumberland Hospital and Macmillan Nurses.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor Hayley can text Slim91 which will give her £2, log on to www.just giving.com/Hayley-Houghton2 or make a donation at any branch of the Cumberland Building Society.

First published at 11:53, Friday, 09 November 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk