A SWINDON family whose 10-year-old daughter died from a brain tumour will feature in The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off tonight on Channel 4.

Ruby Shakespeare, of Old Town, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in March 2010 when she was just eight years old.

She underwent months of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and showed great courage throughout all her treatment, but sadly passed away in July 2011.

Ruby would have been 17 this year. Her family, mum Annette, dad Tim and sisters Jemima, 11 and Eva, six, remember her every day.

Annette said: “Immediately after she passed away, we concentrated on spending time together as a family and trying to work out the new dynamics.

Channel 4 made a film about the family and how they cope with their loss, which will be shown again tonight during the programme.

The Celebrity Bake-off featuring Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig is designed to push the celebrities to their limits and they will be baking to raise money for Stand Up To Cancer, a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4.

Annette, who is a baking fan, is a great supporter of the series. She has spoken of the family and their life after the death of Ruby.

She said: “As a family, we talk daily about Ruby, and Jemima and Eva include her in any drawings and stories relating to our family.

“Each year on Ruby's birthday and on the anniversary of the day she died, we spend the day together as a family. The girls have a day off school and we go somewhere we think Ruby would have liked, such as the seaside or Cadbury's World.

“On the weekend closest to Ruby's birthday, we have a BBQ at a local park for friends and family and anyone else that would like to come. We play games, walk the dog and catch up with some of Ruby's old friends.

“It's not a celebration as such, just a time to be together to remember and mark her birthday.

“Our biggest fear was that Ruby would be forgotten so we wanted to create something that would keep her memory alive and at the same time, highlight four charities which help families in situations like ours.

“We established Ruby's Fat Cow Fund in December 2011 and since then over £80k has been raised in Ruby's memory – and one of the charities has dedicated a room to her and her fund too.

“Separately from the fund, we have raised enough money to install Ruby's Musical Garden in the playground of the girls’ school. Ruby loved music and we feel this is a fitting memorial to her.

“Ruby's death has acted as a great simplifier. These days we only focus on what's important to us and we try to see the positives in everything. Although we will always miss her, we aim to live happy lives. Ruby wouldn't have wanted it any other way.”

“We continue to support Stand Up To Cancer too – the more we can do to accelerate progress in life-saving cancer research, the better.”

The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off is set to inspire the British public to raise money and to do their own baking this Spring.

Alison Birkett, Cancer Research UK’s spokesperson for the South, said: “Baking is a great way to bring together your family and friends. Get together with them and add a good portion of friends, a sprinkling of colleagues or get your school on board to get creative in the kitchen and set a date for your baking event.

“Your boss could step in for Paul or Prue, find your bakers and spread the word and then watch the dough roll in.”