A memorial fund is about to be launched honouring North Walsham community stalwart Ellen Grover.

Proceeds from the Ellen Grover Memorial Fund will be used to buy something for the town's Victory swimming pool and fitness centre, built after a 20-year, �4m fund-raising campaign in which Mrs Grover played a leading role.

The memorial fund, backed by North Walsham Town Council, has been set up by Marion Lane, secretary of the town's in-bloom committee, on which Mrs Grover had served since it was founded about 10 years ago. She died in October, aged 79, after a short illness.

A fund account is in the process of being opened at North Walsham's Barclays Bank and would stay open until Easter, said Mrs Lane.

The in-bloom group and North Walsham Gardening Club, where Mrs Grover had been treasurer, is also planning to plant a tree in her memory outside the Victory.

And inside the pool, opened in November 2003, a meeting room will be renamed The Ellen Grover Room in her memory, providing her son John approves, according to centre manager Stuart Jardine.

'She was a backbone of the fund-raising campaign for the pool and rallied a lot of residents behind her,' he added.

No decision would be made about what to buy with the money until the total was known but one idea was to provide a more comfortable seating area for visitors.

DC Leisure, which manages the pool on behalf of North Norfolk District Council, would be making a contribution.

Mrs Lane said bank account details would be made public as soon as they were available but meanwhile anyone who wanted to contribute could send a cheque to her, made payable to the Ellen Grover Memorial Fund, at 4 Manor Road, North Walsham NR28 9HQ.

'She was an absolutely fantastic, dedicated person. Nothing was too much trouble and she was very well liked in the town,' said Mrs Lane.

Mrs Grover had served as a North Walsham town councillor since 1988.