COLLEAGUES of dentist Chris Cain raised more than £3,000 in his memory when they took on a charity challenge.

Chris, 54, was a partner at Cricklade Dental Practice for 18 years and died following a battle with bowel cancer in April.

Shocked by his death five members of staff, Laura Horton, Sally Humphries, Tracey Chipchase, Karen Wilson and Anne Dunn, took on the 14.8 mile Shine Night Walk, in London, and raised £3,177.79 for Cancer Research UK.

The group received generations donations from colleagues and patients and completed the event on Saturday, September 27, in a time of five and a half hours along with 17,000 other entrants.

Practice manager Sally said: “We couldn’t believe the response we had to the fundraiser.

“We initially thought we might raise around £700 but we were so overwhelmed to see the pledges going higher and higher.

“The loss of Chris was deeply felt by not only his family but by all his staff and patients alike.

“Patients were keen to donate money to a worthy cause as a sign of their appreciation for the care he gave them.

“Due to the nature of a dentist practice we tend to see most patients every six months so we kept them up to date of our training with a display board.

“All staff would now like to say a massive thank you for all the support they received over the last few months from patients and colleagues.”

After their mammoth walk, the team suffered their fair share of blisters but now they have all recovered.

Chris was originally from Brisbane, in Australia, and trained as a dentist in Queensland.

He moved to England in the 1980s and worked in London but later moved to the south west.

He was married to Anne and had three children Alex, Ben and Dominic.

Sally said: “We were keen to do something to honour Chris and the walk made sense as he loved London. The Tate was one of his favourite places so when we went past we took a picture.”