FRIENDS and teachers of a popular man who died from bone cancer raised £22,000 in his honour with a fundraising walk yesterday.

The pupils from Wallingford School took a day off from classes to complete the sponsored walk in memory of former sixth-former Alex Lewis, inset, who died earlier this year.

Alex joined the sixth form at Wallingford School in St George’s Road at the age of 16 and was diagnosed with bone cancer aged 17. Alex was the subject of a TV documentary, entitled Alex: A Life Fast Forward, which told how he coped with the disease and had married fiancée Ali Strain.

The couple married on Alex’s 22nd birthday on February 12, five days before he died.

Yesterday, pupils and teachers completed an eight-mile round trip to Wittenham Clumps to raise an estimated £22,000 for the Bone Cancer Research Trust.

Alex’s mother Angela Lewis, from Church Lane, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, joined pupils on the walk.

She said: “Alex would have been completely bowled over by this. To have raised £22,000 is astonishing.”

Headteacher Wyll Willis said the occasion was “moving and great fun”.

“There were about 1,300 people involved, with 1,100 pupils completing the walk. I’m very proud of them.”