The husband of cancer victim Julie Mackintosh joined her colleagues to retrace the country walks she had loved and raise money for cancer care.

Keen horsewoman Julie Mackintosh who died of cancer aged 43

Patricia Greenwood, centre, and her colleagues who helped to raise money for charities in aid of their friend Julie Mackintosh who died of cancer

Mike Mackintosh, 54, who took early retirement from British Rail just a few days before Julie was diagnosed with cancer, said he was grateful he was able to spend the time with his wife during the final days before she died in March last year at the age of 43. Mr

Mackintosh, from Hutton-le-Hole, near Pickering, said attending the three sponsored walks around the home they had shared was a deeply-moving experience.

He said: "I joined them on all of the walks.

"We weren't walking in a total depression thinking about the bad times, everyone was cheerful and she always enjoyed walking herself so she was with us in thought. I was quite proud, really, Julie was quite popular at work and with the changes taking place in British Rail there was underlying worry for people in their jobs.

"The fact that someone was ill and subsequently died, it bonded them all together."

Many of the friends Julie came into contact with through her job in the fault control department of rail company RACAL joined the walks and raised a total of £2,700.

Julie's friend Rus Brown, co-owner of McMillans and Merlins bars in York, and his colleague Dave Sear raised £1,370 of the total.

The money will be split between St Catherine's Hospice, Scarborough, Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Marie Curie Nurses.

Julie's friend Patricia Greenwood, known as Annie, said: "She had loads of personality and was very caring, everybody really liked her.

We were all so upset when she died that we thought we wanted something good to come out of something so sad as everybody felt a great loss."

They asked Mike's permission to hold the fundraising walks in aid of the people who helped Julie cope with her illness.

Mike said he was glad to help St Catherine's Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Relief, which had given his wife 'invaluable support' but also the Marie Curie Nurses, who had been due to care for her at home.

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