THOUSANDS of pounds have been raised for a Suffolk hospice to celebrate the life of a much-loved granddad.Former welder Barry Chetty died in August after developing a tumour and his wife, Wendy, has now collected £3,350 for the St Nicholas Hospice in Bury St Edmunds.

THOUSANDS of pounds have been raised for a Suffolk hospice to celebrate the life of a much-loved granddad.

Former welder Barry Chetty died in August after developing a tumour and his wife, Wendy, has now collected £3,350 for the St Nicholas Hospice in Bury St Edmunds.

Mr Chetty, 53, who lived in Foden Avenue in Whitehouse, Ipswich, before moving to Wetherden, near Stowmarket, three years ago, was so loved that Ipswich's Whitton Church was packed for his funeral.

And more than 200 people turned out at a party in Bramford which raised the money while at the same time celebrating his life.

Mrs Chetty, 50, said: “Barry loved parties, he loved dancing. Everyone said 'Barry's here - we can hear him clapping'.

“There was a projector with pictures of me and Barry and the children and there were 200 photos around the hall.

“I'd never seen so many people, so emotional. It was a lovely event.”

The couple, who have three children, Vanessa, 32, Colleen, 30, and Westley, 29, first noticed something was wrong two years ago when Mr Chetty started experiencing seizures.

Later an MRI scan at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge revealed a tumour on the left side of his head, just above his ear and near his brain.

Mrs Chetty, a shop manager with five grandchildren, said: “He had an operation to remove it but they couldn't take all the tumour away because it was too near his brain.

“When we went back we were told it was life-threatening. They said he needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy which he had, but the tumour kept growing. I never told him he was going to die because he was such an emotional person.”

Eventually Mr Chetty needed full-time support as he had started to fall over, so he went to St Nicholas Hospice where he died on August 8.

Mrs Chetty said: “They were absolutely fantastic. They looked after Barry so well and if it wasn't for charitable donations they wouldn't be able to provide care like that.

“After he died I got £1,000 in cheques for the hospice from friends and now the dance raised more than £3,000 extra.

“I hope the money will help with the day to day running of the hospice. It is good to give something back.”

Would you like to pay a tribute to Barry Chetty? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.