ONE of Jeanette Handley’s most poignant memories of her dad is being awoken one Sunday morning to the navy veteran’s singing as he cooked breakfast.

Walter Stanley Cox, known as Mick, had a ‘rich and gravelly’ voice and would often be found singing to the likes of Johnny Cash, Bing Crosby and Al Johnson.

Mick was diagnosed with vascular dementia and Lewy bodies in his early 70s, and died in 2005.

Now Jeanette, from Great Sankey, is set to take part in the Alzheimer’s Society’s Cheshire Memory Walk at Arley Hall on Sunday, October 14.

The 53-year-old said: “I am walking the Memory Walk in Cheshire to raise awareness of dementia.

“We have to make people more aware of how it affects not just the people with dementia, but also their families.

“I felt I lost my dad three times - when he went into the home, when he stopped recognising me and when he died.

“He didn’t know who I was near the end.

“Dementia has for too long been the poor relation where charity is concerned.

“It’s time for it to get the spotlight and be exposed.”

Jeanette, a GP data manager at Penketh Health Centre, is taking part in the walk with her colleagues.

Mick was in the Royal Navy for 30 years from the age of 18, but left the forces soon after Jeanette’s birth and worked in Fords until his retirement.

As well as being fondly remembered for his vocals, Mick ‘always loved to read and always had a paperback tucked into his back pocket’.

Jeanette added: “My dad had a lovely deep singing voice, but his voice got weaker and he hardly spoke.

“One of the saddest things for me was when he lost his voice.

“If not a cure, we have to find better treatments for this condition.

“It’s time to up the fight.

“That’s why I’m walking the Cheshire Memory Walk, and I encourage others to sign up and do the same.”