TWO Vale friends have been carrying on a family fundraising tradition in memory of a local police officer which will finish in a few weeks time when they take on the London Marathon.

Shelley Morgan and Chrissy Barnes will compete in the famous event on Sunday, April 13, a year after Mrs Morgan originally signed up.

The 34-year-old mum of two from Elmley Castle had planned to run the event for Cancer Research UK in memory of her dad, police officer Eric Summerton, who died of cancer in 2010.

But an admin error meant she didn't have a place.

Luckily the charity said she and friend Mrs Barnes could take part this year, providing they raised £2,000 each.

But the pair have already smashed that target raking in a huge £7,000 already for the charity and putting them into the top 5 percent of fundraisers on Just Giving.

Mrs Morgan said: "I lost my dad, Eric Summerton, to cancer in December 2010. He was a very well loved and respected local police officer as well as being the most wonderful dad. He spent a lot of his life fundraising for charity so I decided to continue his hard work in his honour.

"Also within our small community in Elmley Castle, three mums from the local school have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. This is our way of showing support and for other sufferers."

A lot of the money raised by the pair came from a hugely successful monster dash event, which they organised over Bredon Hill.

Mrs Barnes, 41, mum of four boys, said: "We went over £7,000 last week online. Now we are hoping to raise £8,000, which would be double our original target.

"We have been training and last week we went on quite a long run and when we were having a water break and a snack we saw this chap and he came up and thanked us and said he was recovering from a prostate operation. That's what it's for."

To support the pair visit justgiving.com/teams/shelleyandchrissy .