WHEN Louise Ramsbottom began organising a Macmillan coffee morning she had no idea she would not be able to see it through.

The mum-of-one, of Runfield Close, Leigh, began fundraising after she was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the appendix – a rare form of cancer – in 2010 but she died aged 40 on September 7 before she could hold the last event she had planned.

The coffee morning had to be cancelled when Louise, who has a 13-year-old son Thomas Tivey, died. But her mum Anne and sister Laura Bailey were determined to hold a charity event in her memory.

“She was diagnosed four-and-a-half years ago with a very rare, slow moving cancer and that spurred her on to start doing charity work such as running for Cancer Research UK,” said Laura, of Durham Close, Tyldesley.

“She fought it all the way. She never moaned, never complained. Not many people knew she was ill because she would never advertise the fact. We decided to rearrange the coffee morning and it has just got bigger and bigger.

"We also decided to raise money forWigan and Leigh Hospice because they have been really good with all of us.”

The event is being held at the Botanical Gardens, on Tyldesley Road in Atherton, at 4pm on November 1 and will include a raffle, tombola and cake stall.

“When Louise first got diagnosed we were told it was treatable but in the last two years they told us it was terminal,” added 44-year-old Laura.

“There was nothing more they could do. It was a big shock because we all thought she had plenty of time left.”