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 Saturday, July 7, from heart failure and the following week more than 400 people gathered to pay their respects at 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.
Sunday would have been his 50th birthday and a service to celebrate Walter Wilkinson's 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 for his charity, the North East Help Link Trust at the service
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article