£1,700 raised in memory of Hednesford bowls player Rob, 63
More than £1,700 has been raised in memory of a popular bowls player from Hednesford who has died aged 63.
Rob Shorter died on May 15, two months after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
The grandfather-of-five regularly played crown green bowls at Hednesford Ex Servicemens Club, so his family are now raising funds for a memorial at the site.
Mr Shorter's son, Ian Shorter, said: "He hadn't been himself for a while, since about February, he was starting to forget simple things.
"It came to the point where he was struggling to balance, I used to play bowls with him and I noticed he couldn't stand up properly.
"He got worse and was taken to New Cross Hospital, where the occupational therapist asked for an MRI scan and found some shadows on his brain.
"We had a horrible eight days after that, it was just at the same time as the coronavirus outbreak so we couldn't visit him.
"We went to see a neurologist at the QE Hospital with him and he was asked some questions and did some checks, then gave us the news that the tumour had spread across the whole left hand side of his brain and there was nothing they could do.
"They sent him home for palliative care and my mum looked after him with the help of nurses.
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"I'm so proud of my mum she looked after him so well.
"It's been a tough few weeks."
And as only a restricted number of people are able to attend Mr Shorter's funeral due to coronavirus, his family decided to ask people to donate for a memorial.
"My dad had that many friends and people that loved him, the service would've been absolutely rammed," Ian added.
"He was that popular, the amount of support and messages we've received since he passed away have been incredible.
"We wanted to do something so people could donate to something in his memory if they wanted.
"My dad used to raise money for the MS Society, as my mum has MS, so we'll donate some of the money to that too.
"The idea is to have something in memory of him at the bowls club, so his memory lives on.
"He was an amazing dad, he was by my side all the way. I couldn't have asked for a better dad."
To read more or to donate visit gofundme.com/f/20p6ji8s40
