69 miles for her 69 birthday in honour of friend

Diane Welch will cycle from her home in Lower Penn around the roads of South Staffordshire on May 21.

Mrs Welch will be joined by her daughter, Sarah, and fellow friends of Elaine Gee, who died of myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in bone marrow.

Mrs Gee died on April 6 aged 55 but her friends have already rallied round to raise money in her memory for Myeloma UK.

Mrs Welch, who has run four marathons since retiring as a teacher at Colton Hills School, Wolverhampton, said: "Elaine had battled the disease for seven years but the medication stopped working this year.

"Her disease robbed her of many things but never took away her sense of humour nor the essence of who she was as a person.

"She loved to support the myeloma charity and ran the final leg in a team which completed the Edinburgh marathon to raise funds for work of the charity.

"I am fairly fit but I have been practising ahead of the bike ride."

Mrs Welch, who has also taken part in cycling events across Europe, said she has fond memories of her friend.

She said: "She was a very strong person who in the course of her seven year battle with myeloma lived her life to the full.

"She had the use of only one arm yet drove a camper van, had an allotment and had two springer spaniels. She had the knack of gathering her friends around to help her achieve all the things on her bucket list, one of which was to climb Snowdon."

Mrs Welch hopes to raise £400 for the charity, and has already raised almost a third of that amount.

She added: "I put £400 on our JustGiving page but you never really know how much you want to raise - as much as possible."

To donate, visit justgiving.com/Diane-Welch1