A village jeweller is to honour her dad’s memory by leading colleagues on a fundraising bike ride to Cambridge and back.

Francesca Glos, one of the designers at Harriet Kelsall Bespoke Jewellery near Weston, lost her father Rudi very suddenly to pancreatic cancer – just two weeks after he was diagnosed.

The 24-year-old’s colleagues at the firm in Halls Green have now come together to support her in raising money for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, with the fundraising from the bike ride to be supplemented by a cake sale next Friday, September 8.

Francesca said: “If anybody knew my dad, he was such a strong and proud person. He was a family man at heart, hard working and well respected – and cancer stripped him from this.

“What started as a pain in his belly, us all wondering what he may have accidentally eaten, was followed by several scans over the course of a couple of weeks – then the news that he had pancreatic cancer and only had months to live.

“He died two weeks after his diagnosis. No chance of chemo or radiotherapy – cancer denied him even the choice. And just like that, he was gone.

“He quickly deteriorated into a man we no longer recognised and once loved, and as a family we were left heartbroken. Like a whirlwind, cancer had entered our home, paid a short visit and left, taking my dad with it.

“Why him? I can’t even begin to explain the emotions that followed and how it changed us all as human beings.

“Anybody who has had experienced cancer will simply know – and if you haven’t, then you can only be grateful.

“My dad was never able to meet his four grandchildren, my mum no longer has her lifelong companion, and I was never able to show my dad the woman that I’ve grown to be.”

The route will take them to and from Harriet Kelsall’s second location in Cambridge’s Green Street, covering 55.6 miles – further than two marathons.

Francesca, from Bedford, said: “I’m so pleased that my colleagues are all getting behind me to support the vital work of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

“Although pancreatic cancer is the seventh most common cause of cancer death across the whole of the world, only two per cent of overall cancer funding is given to it. We want to do as much as we can to support research into this cruel disease.”

The cake sale at Harriet Kelsall’s Halls Green location will be from 10am to 5.30pm on Friday, September 8. The bike ride to Cambridge and back will start at 10am on Sunday, October 1.

You can support Francesca’s fundraising at justgiving.com/fundraising/marathon-riders.