WORCESTER’S MP walked 31 miles in a day to raise money for the city hospice that cared for his father just before he died.

Just two days after the death of Lord Walker of Worcester, his son Robin, who has followed in his father’s footsteps to be elected to represent the Faithful City, took part in the dawn till dusk Worcestershire Way Walk.

Mr Walker and his fiancée Charlotte Keenan have already raised more than £2,200 for Worcester’s St Richard’s Hospice but are hoping to add to that total after setting up a web page for donations to be made in memory of Lord Walker.

Your Worcester News previosuly reported how Peter Walker, a former Conservative MP who represented Worcester for more than 30 years, was a strong supporter of the hospice movement and became a patron of St Richard’s when it was founded in 1984.

Lord Walker, a former cabinet member who served under prime minister Margaret Thatcher, campaigned for greater NHS support for St Richard’s and the wider hospice movement during his political career.

It was therefore perhaps fitting that the 78-year-old died at the hospice in Wildwood Drive on Wednesday, June 23, after a long battle with cancer.

Robin Walker said: “My father passed away at St Richard’s Hospice peacefully and having been able to see all of his close family in calm and beautiful surroundings.

“We are enormously grateful for the frankly amazing support that the hospice was able to give him and us in his last days.

“Charlotte and I decided to still do the walk and appreciated all the more the huge support friends have given.

“My father was a great supporter of St Richard’s and would have been proud of the care they were able to give him.”

Mr Walker and Miss Keenan took part in the Worcestershire Way Walk two years ago and signed up to repeat the experience before his father went into the in-patient unit at St Richard’s.

However, Mr Walker admitted that the only preparation he got for this year’s long-distance walk, which took place on Friday, June 25, was while pounding the city’s streets during the general election campaign.

St Richard’s Hospice provides free specialist palliative care for patients living with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses and also supports their families.

Every year, the hospice supports more than 2,100 patients and family members in Worcestershire but needs to raise £5 million this year to continue its work.

To donate to the fund set up in Lord Walker’s memory, visit justgiving.com/ lordwalker.

l See left to read Robin Walker’s latest column.