Greg Gilbert's niece takes on swimming challenge in his memory

From left: A young Cherry pictured with Aaron and Greg Gilbert and Greg's daughter Dali

The niece of Delays singer Greg Gilbert is taking on a swimming challenge in memory of her uncle.

Nine-year-old Cherry Gilbert, from Southampton, is preparing to swim 100 lengths to raise money for the charity Bowel Cancer UK.

Her uncle died in September last year, after a five-year battle with stage four bowel cancer.

Cherry plans to complete the swim on Sunday and said she wanted to do her uncle proud.

Greg Gilbert was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in 2016

Greg Gilbert was the lead singer of Southampton band Delays and is survived by his wife, Stacey Heale and their daughters Dali and Bay.

His battle with the disease became public when an appeal to pay for his treatment reached £100,000 in just 48 hours. GoFundMe said it was one of the "fastest ever" campaigns.

Cherry will be swimming 100 lengths of a swimming pool to raise money for charity Bowel Cancer UK

Just over a year after his death, Greg's niece Cherry is training hard to swim her more-than-2km (1.2miles) target.

She said: "I'm going to be swimming 100 lengths for Bowel Cancer UK because sadly I lost my uncle to this last year.

"I'm going to have a really good growth mindset and I'm going to think 'I'm going to do it' - it doesn't matter how tired I am, I'm going to keep on pushing myself to do it.

"I know how proud I'll feel at the end."

Michelle Gilbert, Cherry's mum, hopes the money raised will go towards research that could someday cure the disease

Cherry, who will undertake the swim at the end of her school half term, has so far raised about £1,000 in sponsorship.

Her mum, Michelle, said the family hoped any money raised would be put towards research into the disease.

She said: "Immunotherapy didn't work for Greg, but there will be an answer out there, there will be.

"So for them (Bowel Cancer UK) to continue that research and trying to find answers just to help other people in this situation live a longer life, live a better life, cure the disease - that would be absolutely amazing."