A MEMORIAL service is to be held for a Methodist minister who dedicated his life to helping the homeless.
Walter Wilkinson, from Spennymoor, worked throughout his life to improve conditions for homeless people, providing food and soup kitchens in Tyneside and Teesside.
He died on July 7, from heart failure, and the following week more than 400 people gathered a funeral service at the Mount Pleasant Methodist Chapel, in Spennymoor, where millionaires stood alongside homeless people and the congregation spilled out into the street.
This Sunday would have been Mr Wilkinson's 50th birthday, and to mark the occasion a service to celebrate his life will take place at Spennymoor Town Hall, at 2.30pm.
His daughter, Leanne, said: "A bus full of homeless people and three millionaires attended his funeral. It just proves what kind of person he was."
Mr Wilkinson also left a wife, Anne and another daughter, Helen.
Donations will be taken at the service for Mr Wilkinson's charity, the North East Help Link Trust.
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