The money raised will pay for a nurse for a year

In just over a year, the Cheryl Marie James Memorial Fund has exceeded its �10,000 target.

The money has been donated to Hope House Children's Hospice, in Oswestry, Shropshire.

Miss James' death, and that of three other recruits at Deepcut, has been the subject of a major police inquiry.

Her parents, Des and Doreen James, who now live at Llanymynech near Welshpool in Powys, now want the fund in their daughter's memory to become a charity.

The hospice, which serves counties in England and parts of mid and north Wales too, said the James' contribution was "absolutely fantastic."

We wanted her (Cheryl) life to have made a difference Des James

Miss James, from Froncysyllte, near Llangollen, died at the Deepcut camp, in Surrey, on 27 November 1995, just five weeks after her 18th birthday.

Mr James explained how the family came to launch the fund.

"I was approached by a magazine last year and it wanted to interview me and offer me �300," he said.

"But the last thing I wanted to do was to make money out of our story so I asked the magazine to give the money to Hope House.

"This happened about three times and eventually I was in touch with the appeals director of the charity and I said my wife and I wanted to do something more permanent.

"She said money rarely went towards nursing care so we decided to help."

The James' fund raising began in November last year with a 1960s night.

A karaoke night and a mid summer ball followed, raising �8,000. Mr James also ran the Great North Run and the annual Santa Run in Newtown last weekend to add to the growing pot of money.

"We wanted to make the money in Cheryl's name, but more than anything we wanted her life to have made a difference," added Mr James.

"Just a little more than a year later we are a few hundreds pounds short of �16,000 against what we considered to be a somewhat optimistic target of �10,000 for 2004."

The soldiers who died at Deepcut Sean Benton, 20, from Hastings, East Sussex, 1995 Cheryl James, 18, from Froncysyllte, north Wales, 1995 Geoff Gray, 17, from Seaham, County Durham, 2001 James Collinson, 17, from Perth, Scotland, 2002 Independent review at Deepcut

Hope House appeals director, Nuala O'Kane, paid tribute to Mr and Mrs James.

"They are an inspirational couple and have shown courage and dignity which has impressed everybody in the organisation," she said.

Mrs O'Kane said the �16,000 raised by the James' would pay for a nursery nurse for a year.

Cheryl's death, and those of three other young recruits, has been the subject of a major investigation by Surrey police.

It remains part of a campaign run by the families of the four who are demanding a full and independent public inquiry. They are supported by Amnesty International and 204 MPs.