A WOMAN whose memorial flowers for her husband were stolen has spoken of her gratitude at the anonymous donor who left money for her to buy replacements.

Sue Bicknell tied silk flowers to the fence near Huntingdon’s Old Bridge to mark the first anniversary of her husband Allan’s death on August 9.

But when she returned to retrieve the flowers, she found they had been cut off and stolen.

Mrs Bicknell was left “disgusted”, but chose to leave a good-natured note offering to buy the thief flowers of their own if they needed them so desperately.

That prompted an anonymous donation from a Huntingdon man, who left �20 at The Hunts Post offices last week so that Mrs Bicknell could buy more flowers.

She said the gesture had moved her deeply.

“It just goes to show that for every bad person, there are thousands of other generous people in the country. I extremely grateful,” said Mrs Bicknell, 59.

“All I can say is a huge thank you to the gentleman for his kind donation.

“I actually felt very guilty that someone had left the money. It’s not what I intended to happen when I left the note – I didn’t want to upset any passers-by – I just wanted the person who took the flowers to read the note.”

Mr Bicknell, 60, died on August 9 last year, collapsing near the Old Bridge Hotel on Huntingdon ring road as he walked to work. He and Mrs Bicknell had been married for 37 years and lived in Eaton Socon, and had three children and four grandchildren.

The couple enjoyed spending time at Hunstanton and had a love of the sea. In the past year his family have raised more than �5,000 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Mrs Bicknell has decided to put the �20 towards her �1,000 fundraising target for the Birmingham Half Marathon, which she will run on October 23.

Her daughter Sally Gale, who has already raised more than �4,000 for the RNLI through challenges including the London Marathon, is hoping to add another �1,000 in the Run to the Beat Half Marathon on September 25.

INFORMATION: To sponsor Sue Bicknell, visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/susanbicknell