A POPULAR Eastleigh publican and former town carnival queen who raised thousands of pounds for charity has died three days after her 66th birthday of cancer.

Val Livermore and her husband Harry kept the Leigh Hotel in Leigh Road for 18 years until 1995 when they left to take over at the Netley Central Sports Club.

Born in Eastleigh, Mrs Livermore, of Burns Road, worked at Pirelli General after leaving school and became Eastleigh carnival queen in 1955.

While at the Leigh Hotel, she raised thousands of pounds for good causes, mainly concentrating on the special care baby unit at Southampton's Princess Anne Baby Unit, the Warsash-based Horseshoe Lodge for underprivileged children, Eastleigh's Tankerville special school and Cancer Research.

In 1983 she and a team of Leigh Hotel barmaids conquered the Army assault course at the Light Division Depot in Winchester to raise charity cash and the following year the landlady with the heart of gold became chairman of the Southampton Branch of the Ladies' Licensed Victuallers' Association.

Even after she retired from the Netley Central club she did voluntary work at Southampton Magistrates' Court for the witness support scheme.

Up until this year, she always supported the Eastleigh carnival children's dog show, getting her grandchildren to exhibit her dogs.

Mrs Livermore died in Southampton General Hospital and leaves her 64-year-old husband, three children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Her funeral service will be held in Eastleigh's parish church of All Saints at 12.30pm on 9th September and Mr Livermore said between 200 and 300 people were expected to attend. The service will be followed by cremation at Southampton Crematorium.

The funeral cortege is due to halt outside the Leigh Hotel for a short time en route to All Saints Church.