A WOMAN and her five friends set off on a charity bike ride yesterday in memory of her brother, who died from leukaemia.

Helen Brown and her friends are hoping to raise more than £1,500 from the four-day trip from the Conservative Club in Coundon to Blackpool Tower.

The two places evoke special memories of Helen's brother, Martin, who died at the age of 23 in May after a three-year fight against leukaemia.

"The Conservative Club was my brother's local, so we thought it would be apt to set off from there, and he loved Blackpool," said Helen, 26, of Coundon.

"The ride is to raise funds for leukaemia research. My brother never gave up until the end, and I'm sure there'll be some tears on the way, but at the end of the day we've still got to enjoy ourselves. The support so far has been overwhelming."

Helen, part of the sales team at The Expanded Metal Company, in Hartlepool, will be joined by sister Sarah, Amanda Chapman, of Newton Aycliffe, Nicky Johnson, of Bishop Auckland, and John Bainbridge, of Coundon. Another friend, Michael Hind, will be running the route, and set off a day early to get ahead of the cyclists.

The friends, who will camp out on the way, have been in training for several weeks.

"Before this I hadn't been on a bike since I was about ten," said Helen.

"But we've been training up to 20 miles a night and there will be a couple of cars coming too, as back up.