'IT must be fate' thought a Presteigne woman who discovered Race for Life is coming to Hereford on July 20 this year.

Phillippa Gundy is determined to get running in memory of her grandmother who put so much into her own community throughout her lifetime.

After losing her grandma, Freda Laidler to acute myeloid leukaemia at Christmas, Phillippa decided to take up the challenge and limber up for Race for Life.

"My grandmother did a lot of raising money for charity. It is something that I thought I should carry on and take up the baton," said Phillippa, a machine operator at Henderson's Engineering in Hay-on-Wye.

Thirty-three-year-old Phillippa wanted to complete the Race for Life last year, but two house moves and having to travel to Worcester to take part in the event meant she had to abandon her plans.

She told how her grandma worked as a volunteer for the Red Cross being one of the Dunkirk Nurses during the war and even received a long standing service award for her civilian duties a few years ago.

"As long as I have known she has been one for standing outside supermarkets with a collecting tin," she proudly said of her grandmother.