Memorial service for Willie
SNOOKER STAR’S FRIENDS GATHER IN CHURCH THEN FOR CELEBRATION OF HIS LIFE
A MEMORIAL service for Leicester snooker legend Willie Thorne is to be held in Spain next week.
There will be a church service on Wednesday, followed by a celebration of his life at a bar where Willie staged charity events.
Willie died on Wednesday after a battle with leukaemia.
The star had been in an induced coma in a Spanish hospital after suffering respiratory failure on Sunday.
The 66-year-old was diagnosed with cancer in March and had been affected by various health problems since.
He was being looked after at his home in Alicante by his friend Julie O’Neill, who set up a fund-raising page to help him financially.
She posted details of the memorial service yesterday.
She said: “Willie’s memorial service will be at La Zenia New Church in Orihuela Costa at 11.15am on Wednesday.
“We are planning a beautiful service for him at the church and then hot and cold buffet and celebration of life at Evolution Bar la Fuente where Willie held numerous charity events and played with the pool team and golf association.
“If anyone would like to send flowers who cannot attend then you can contact a florist’s at Tagua tel:+34 965 320 873 or e-mail:
“There will be a charity bowl at the church and donations will be for Rainbows hospice and 20/20 Voice Cancer, to which Willie was affiliated.
“Thank you once again for all the messages of support and love.
“This is an immensely difficult time for many, The world lost a champion.”
Willie turned professional in 1975 and won 14 worldwide titles in a career lasting 26 years, including The Classic in 1985.
He reached the quarter-finals of the world championships in 1982 and 1987.
After retiring in 2001, Willie moved into commentary and became one of the voices of the BBC, having first worked for them in the 1980s.