WHEN her seven-year-old daughter, Michelle, died last year, Barbara Szarko asked for people to make donations to the hospital instead of sending flowers.

Michelle was mentally and physically handicapped and spent most of the last two years of her life in ward 26 at Burnley General.

Now the money raised after her death by kind-hearted friends and family has been spent on special needs toys and equipment for the benefit of other children in the ward.

Barbara will visit the hospital this afternoon (May 2) to see the toys handed over and spend some time with nurses and children. She told the Citizen: "After Michelle died, rather than have people spend money on flowers for the funeral, I requested that they send donations to ward 26, so that it could be spent on something to help other special needs children.

"During her life, Michelle spent a lot of time in the ward, and for the last two years before she died she was there more or less constantly."

She died after suffering complications when she contracted whooping cough.

Barbara has been helped with much of the fund-raising by Michelle's old special school, Westways, Burnley, and more donations have come from pupils, staff and parents at the primary school attended by Michelle's sisters, St Mary's, Burnley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.