Cathedral service marks cancer charity's 20th year

Wendy Tarplee-Morris set up the Little Princess Trust after the death of her daughter

A charity that helps children with cancer by providing them with real wigs is marking its 20th year with a cathedral service.

The Little Princess Trust, in Hereford, has given wigs to nearly 20,000 children, and is a key funder of research into childhood cancer.

Wendy Tarplee-Morris founded the charity in memory of her daughter Hannah, who died in 2005, and said the extent of the charity's work had been "astounding".

The service to mark the anniversary is being held in Hereford Cathedral on Saturday.

'Phenomenal support'

After Hannah died at the age of five, her school and family raised money in her memory and the first real hair wig was bought.

"Little did we know that that was actually the start of the charity," Ms Tarplee-Morris said.

"People heard what we had done with this money that had been raised.

"More was raised and more, and we were able to fund more and more wigs and here we are today, 20 years later."

Mrs Tarplee-Morris said she had been "blown away" by people's response to the cathedral event.

"We are expecting quite a large number of people to come, which honestly is extremely humbling," she said.

She said the support from the community in Hereford had been "phenomenal".

The service, led by the Dean of Hereford, will remember Hannah and tell the story of the Little Princess Trust.

The service was the idea of Tim Lowe, who helped found the charity. He was headmaster of Hereford Cathedral Junior School at the time Hannah died.

Mrs Tarplee-Morris said the service would be full of music, with performances by the Hereford Military Veterans Choir, and a talk from Simon Tarplee, Hannah's father.

Both Mr Tarplee and Mr Lowe helped to form the charity and are trustees.

Other speakers include Dr Catherine Pointer, who went through her own cancer journey and was helped by the Little Princess Trust.

She is now a cancer research scientist in Southampton, where some of her work is funded by the charity.

"One of Hannah's old classmates is also singing a solo," Mrs Tarplee-Morris added.

"It's been very, very thoughtfully put together, and I think it's going to be a really lovely service."