A POIGNANT 20-mile walk from Blaenau to Criccieth has raised over £5,000 for Alzheimer’s research.

The Quaeck family from Porthmadog wanted to do something special in honour of their mother, to raise awareness of dementia and sponsored money for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Emma Quaeck said: “Our mother Hilda Quaeck passed away in May this year following a long 17-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

“As family and friends we decided to do a sponsored walk on 7 October, which would have been her 90th birthday.

“She loved walking and we all thought that this would be a fitting way to honour her memory and to raise funds for a worth-while cause.”

It was decided to walk from Blaenau Ffestiniog where Mrs Quaeck was born and finish at the Bryn Awelon Nursing Home in Criccieth where she spent the last years of her life, a total of 20 miles with 30 family and friends joining in the whole walk or doing part of it.

The family would like to thank those who took part in the walk and for those who sponsored the event, as an incredible total of £5,104 was raised.

In particular the family would like to thank Dafydd and Liz Thomas of local company GEWS, their generosity in donating this year’s Festival Number 6 VIP tickets as a raffle boosted the funds considerably as they alone collected over £2,000.

Emma added: “We appreciate all the support and sponsorship money received and we especially can’t thank Dafydd and Liz enough.

“Doing the walk felt like something very positive to do on the first birthday without mam, and the incredible sum of money raised has touched us all and will go towards support and research to fight this disease.”