MONMOUTHSHIRE siblings Mel and Tim Ellis got on their bikes and rode 300 miles to raise money for the charity that cared for their cancer sufferer father Terry up until his death.

The brother and sister completed the gruelling distance from London to Paris in five days and raised a magnificent £1,828.

Mel, 50, from Llandogo who only sat on a bike for the first time last year, said: "My brother Tim and I wanted to raise as much money as possible for St David's Hospice Care and St Anne's after they took such excellent care of our dad, Terry, during his final days.

"He fought the oesophageal cancer all the way to the end and it seems a fitting tribute for us to  have ridden the 300 miles from London to Paris as Terry was such a fit and active person and would have loved to do it himself, if given the chance."

Her brother, father-of-two Tim, aged 54, is HR director for the UK multi-national packing and recycling firm DS Smith.

Talking about her dad she said: "Terry came from a very humble background and left school at 13. As a boy he worked at the Tintern hotel shining shoes and became a silver service waiter.

"In his adult life he was a long distance lorry driver, then ambulance man, then gained a degree in his 40s and ended up as control officer for the county of Gwent. He loved nature and the outdoors, travelling and always kept himself fit.

"He also accompanied me to many of my races.

"We are very pleased, proud and moved by the generous donations received, some of which came from people we didn't know that well.

"It says a lot about Terry and how much he meant to so many people."

Franca Nigra, of St David's Hospice Care, said: "We are enormously grateful to Mel and Tim for their tremendous efforts to raise such a magnificent amount of money for the charity. The money will help us to continue to offer care to others in our community like their late father Terry."