Hundreds of people took part in Walk to Remember 2024

Many families were walking together including Dawn Smith with her nephew Jordan and his cousin Victoria Fitzgibbons.

Victoria, Jordan and Dawn (Image: Imogen Barber)

Dawn was walking to remember her best friend Nikki and her dad Terry Smith. Jordan and Victoria were also walking for their Nanna Dorris.

It was Dawn’s first time taking part in the Walk To Remember. She said: “It’s quite emotional to be here and see everyone.

“My dad was amazing, he would help anyone out, so I think he’d be so proud of us for doing this.

“Everyone is enjoying themselves, there’s a lovely atmosphere, everyone is so friendly.”

Victoria took part last year and said: “It’s nice to give back to the hospice for all they do for families, the nurses are angels.”

Lauren Taylor was walking with her friend Lucy Paterson. They were both joining in for the first time.

Lauren and Lucy (Image: Imogen Barber)

Lauren's dad Derek was in the hospice two years ago. She said: “He’d like to know I’m doing this for him, it’s a brilliant event.”

Her whole family has done a lot of fundraising for St Mary’s over the past 12 months and raised over £2,000.

Her brother James recently completed a skydive and is taking part in the Great North Run on Sunday.

Lucy was walking in memory of her grandmother who died at the hospice in 2012.

She said: “I was quite young when she died so it’s nice to honour her. You can’t say enough good words about the Hospice.”

Ulverston’s very own celebrity, magician Jack Rhodes, who was runner-up on Britain’s Got Talent, performed for the walkers before they set off.

Jack took part in the Walk To Remember five years ago and returned this year for 15 minutes of magic and laughter.

Before heading on stage, he said: "I’m happy to be here, it’s a nice hometown gig for a good cause. It should be a laugh.

“It’s a great cause, the hospice is incredible, they do amazing work and put on a lot of events, what they do is very impressive.”

Grace Shimmin, age nine, also took to the stage and sang in front of hundreds of people.

Grace with her mum, dad and grandad (Image: Imogen Barber)

She would like to follow in Jack’s footsteps and make an appearance on Britain’s Got Talent.

Today was her second day back at school, where she is a part of a singing group called the Star Girls.

One day, Grace said she hoped to be a professional singer. Her favourite song to sing was This Is Me from The Greatest Showman.

Grace was with her whole family, who were walking for her grandmother and had raised over £1,000 in her memory.

Melissa Major, from St Mary’s Hospice, said: “It’s absolutely blown us away this year, the amount of people that have signed up. We've gone from just under 400 last year to over a thousand this year. It’s an amazing event, it’s sad but a good kind of sad where people can come together and remember those they’ve lost.

“It’s vital for the hospice, people don’t realise that eight out of ten of our patients are cared for through events like this. We only get a fifth of our funding from the government, which would see us have to close our doors mid-March if we relied on this only. Fundraising events like this are crucial and we can’t put into words how grateful we are to each and every walker who has come down today to remember somebody and raise money for us. It has also been a fantastic way to celebrate our 35th anniversary.”