A WOMAN has gone on a trek across rugged Italian terrain for three days in memory of her brother who died from a heart-related disease.

Pat Betteridge, a Weight Watchers leader, is walking for six hours a day across parts of the Amalfi Coast to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. The charity is important to her because her brother John Morris died four years ago, aged 52, from bacterial endocarditis.

It was thought the disease had entered his body through his teeth and gums before affecting his heart.

Mrs Betteridge, of Peopleton, near Pershore, said: "It was a very vicious illness and I'd like to think some of the money I raise would go to looking into that because it's so fast infecting the body."

She has already smashed her target of £1,500 by raising £3,000 at a fund-raising night in the village and securing £1,000 worth of sponsorship pledges from her family.

However, she now hopes to meet a new target of £4,250 and has appealed to local people and businesses to help her.

She became involved in the trek because she is a Weight Watchers leader at a class in Worcester and two others in Stourport-upon-Severn, and the club supports the charity.She hopes the trek, which ended yesterday, will also help her become fitter and encourage the people who came to her dieting classes to increase their own activity levels.

Anyone interested in sponsoring Mrs Betteridge can contact her through her Weight Watchers group which meets at St Wulstan's Church, Cranham Drive, Warndon, Worcester, every Tuesday between 5.30pm and 7pm.