THE family of policeman Bill Barker have thanked those who took part in a memorial ride in the 10th anniversary year of his death.

Hazel said their lives were destroyed on November, 20, 2009 when Bill, 44, died when Northside Bridge collapsed in Workington.

Every year since his death, The Bill Barker Memorial Ride has taken place with bikers riding between his hometown of Egremont to Scarborough.

At the weekend, dozens of bikers completed the 169-mile ride.

Hazel along with children, Simon, Melissa, Daniel and Emma-Louise, said they are ‘forever grateful’ to those who take part in the annual ride.

Hazel said their futures was ‘left in a million pieces’, following her husband's death.

“All the years filled with memories were destroyed, all the dreams of the future cruelly snatched away and in its place pain and heartache and days and days when we struggled to put one foot in front of the other,” she added.

“Everything about the following weeks and months was just a mixed up bundle of emotions and the need to get through it hour by hour, my focus on our four brave children and getting them through each painful day.”

In early 2010, they were introduced to friend Anne Crayston and the ‘three musketeers’ Derek Ellwood, Ken Stephenson and Steve Oakes, who introduced The Bill Barker Memorial Ride.

Hazel said: “None of you, the ever-supportive, amazing Bill Barker Memorial Riders, will ever know how much it meant to us.

“There is never a night falls or a morning breaks when we don’t think of Bill and although it will be 10 years in November since we lost my darling husband, father and forever friend, somehow, as every year passes, I miss Bill more and more, each year seems to take him further and further away from us.

“But I know I will get through this, because we have the most amazing and incredibly supportive people in our lives.”

Money raised at the event goes to the Pride of Cumbria air ambulance.