A WIDOW who has lost two husbands to cancer has helped raised £500 in their memory.

Maggie Winship’s first husband, Tom Cordner, died of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 1976, aged 37. The couple had been married 17 years.

Mr Cordner, a journalist with the Hartlepool Mail, in whose honour the annual North-East Press Awards are held, died following an 18-month battle with the disease.

Mrs Winship later married Edwin Winship, who died of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in August 2008, aged 71.

Mr Winship, a landscape architect, died following an eight-month fight with the cancer. The couple had been married 13 years.

Mrs Winship, 71, helped raise £500 for the chemotherapy unit at the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City, by hosting a tea party at her home in Meadowfield, near Durham, last month.

Guests enjoyed teas, coffee and cake, raffles, a tombola and other games.

Mrs Winship, a grandmother of 14, thanked everyone who supported the event, including members of Meadowfield and Langley Moor Over-60s and her sister and brother-in-law Shirley and Harry Aberdeen, who she said were particularly helpful.