Bob Birdsall's daughter Rosslyn, who attended Priesthorpe School, was 15 when she died from the disease.

Since then, he has helped Meningitis UK raise almost £1.5m with sponsored walks and hopes to boost that total with a charity night on Saturday.

Mr Birdsall, a security officer at Bradford University, said: "It was a great shock when my daughter died. I had heard of the disease but I did not really know how it affected people."

He got involved with the charity when he was helped through counselling by the charity's chief executive, Steve Dayman, who lost his own son to the disease.

He added: "I realised there there wasn't a lot of money involved in charities like Meningitis UK, and in 1992 I took part in my first walk to help raise money for them.

"Whilst I have been fundraising, a vaccine has been found for one strain of the disease but the killer is meningitis B and septicaemia, which accounts for almost 90 per cent of all cases, and there isn't one for that yet."

Each year there are approximately 2,400 cases of meningitis. Those most at risk are babies, children under five, 16-24 year olds and the elderly.

He added: "I would just like people to turn up that knew Rosslyn or went to school with her - the more the merrier."

The event will take place at The Manor, on Stonyroyd from 7.30pm. There will be a raffle/auction, disco and live music from local bands.
Tickets cost £3 and are available on the door or from The Manor on 0113 2553439.