A FAMILY is honouring their ‘always smiling’ father by hosting a charity night in his name to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.

Father-of-three and loving husband Keith Wilson died in September 2009 at the age of 59 following a nine month battle against the disease.

Now his family, from Newton Aycliffe, have organised a charity event to raise money and awareness of prostate cancer - and have already collected more than £1,000 for the charity.

Mr Wilson’s youngest daughter, Louise, came up with the idea last year and started collecting raffle prizes in January.

She has also taken part in fundraising events such as Movember to raise money for the cancer charity.

“Dad was always smiling, he was a massive family man and he loved a party so we thought a good way to honour him would be to have a party and raise money for charity in the process.” She said.

His widow Anna added: “My dad has also been diagnosed with prostate cancer, so we would like to raise as much money and awareness of it as we can.

“It seems to be more in the public eye now, but when Keith was diagnosed nobody really talked about it.”

The family has managed to secure a large variety of gifts for a raffle during the charity night, including a Newcastle United signed football, a spa voucher for two, a voucher for Hall Garth Hotel and much more.

Miss Wilson added: “Dad was a massive Newcastle United fan, he was a season ticket holder and went to all of the cup games. My sisters I and used to take in turns going to the matches with him too.

“We’re quite overwhelmed at how much has been donated, we’ve had to bundle some of it together otherwise the raffle would go on all night.

“We initially wanted to raise £1,000 but we’ve already passed that. It just shows how well liked dad was.”

Mrs Wilson added: “If we could just thank everybody who has helped in any way, we are truly grateful to everyone for their support, it means the world to us.”

The event at The Working Mans Club in Newton Aycliffe starts at 7.30pm on Friday, April 3 and tickets cost £5, available on the door or from the WMC.

Raffle tickets cost £1 per strip and all proceeds will go to Prostate Cancer UK.