Nine-year-old Erin from Peterborough has organised a memory walk in memory of her Grandad.

After the sad loss of her grandad last year, nine-year-old Erin Porter has organised a memory walk in honour of her beloved Grandad. She hopes that other residents will join her on the stroll to take some time to remember their loved ones. 
As December approaches, for the Porter family it will be their first Christmas without their loving Grandad as he passed away suddenly on New Years Eve last year. 
Despite their struggle to come to terms with the loss, the family have grown ever closer as they pay a special tribute to him on their Memory Walk.

Proud mum, Hayley Porter, who lives in Yaxley, said: “Dad was such a huge part of all our lives and we all feel such a loss with him gone.

Erin who attends Fourfields School in Yaxley came home from school last week upset in the run up to Christmas that she would like to do something in memory of him. 
Marketing Assistant, Hayley said: “She has seen a few losses this year with some friends who have also lost people close which has really hit her hard and brought it all back up for her.

“We put our heads together about what she could do and we narrowed it down to a walk, which other people may want to join. She is very aware that there are a lot of families missing people this Christmas and she wanted to do something that could include other people as well. “

At the weekends, come rain or shine Erin has done practice walks to prepare for the 5km distance,

Setting off at 11am on December 18 from The Willow Coffee Shop, Central Park which is owned by Erin’s Auntie Christine, Erin hopes to achieve the distance in an hour.

The family decided to fundraise for Cruse Bereavement Support as they supported Hayley’s mum after losing her husband.

Erin said: My Grandad died suddenly on New Years Eve last year and this year is our first Christmas without him. I would like to do something nice to remember him and also invite others to join me in remembering loved ones that are lost.

“I am pleased to be helping Cruse as they help so many people going through the same as our family. My idea started by wanting to do something special for my Grandad and doing this seems like a nice way of remembering him and still sharing Christmas with him in a different way.”

Hayley, who is so proud of her daughter, said: “I am so proud of Erin, it has been such a hard year for us all and both Erin and her little brother Joshua (6) were extremely close to their Grandad. We all miss him dearly but the fact that Erin has wanted to do something especially to think of him at this difficult time of year and others, definitely brings a tear to my eye. I know her Grandad would be so proud of her as he always was of both his grandchildren. They were both the apple of his eye.”