THREE sisters from Melksham are lacing up their running shoes and preparing to take on Bath Half Marathon next month.

Rebecca Vaina, 35, of Sandridge Road, and her sisters Gemma Mullan, 33, and Sam Morrison, 31, are training for the challenge on March 12 to raise money for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charity Fund, chosen by Mrs Vaina after she underwent treatment for a brain tumour last year.

Mrs Vaina said: “I had a benign brain tumour removed at John Radcliffe Hospital in July last year.

"I was under anaesthetic for 25 hours – it was quite a crazy operation. I decided that I would raise the money for them and the Oxford Skull Base Clinic, to help out with all of the good work that they do.”

The sisters have set a fundraising goal of £600 and have already been given £312, meaning they are already over halfway with a month still to go until the big day.

“Sam has done a few things like this before but this is the first half marathon that Gemma and I have done," said Mrs Vaina. "At the moment we are up to about eight miles and going for one big run a week.

"It was kind of an idea between me and Sam and then Gemma just got dragged into it,” she added.

Mrs Vaina has been recovering from her operations since July and decided that the half marathon would be a good way to get fit again.

“I have been signed off for a year and have to keep having scans for the next 15 years or so to make sure the tumour doesn’t come back.

"This is a good opportunity to get myself back out there and do something,” she said.