Hospice fundraisers are so keen to help their local charity, they will find any way to take part in sponsored events.
When John McCarthy realised he would not be able to tackle the hills on the St Leonard’s Hospice Challenge Walk in the Pennines, he decided to take part on flat ground instead.
John, 69, who is also a volunteer in a St Leonard’s Hospice shop, decided to walk the same 20-mile distance between the hospice shops in Selby and Acomb instead.
John said: “I decided at the beginning of the year to challenge myself to get fit, and I thought a long walk was a good way to increase my fitness.
“I thought the Challenge Walk in the Pennines, which happened earlier in May, was probably a bit too much, so I came up with the idea of doing the Selby to Acomb route, finishing at the hospice shop where I work every Tuesday.”
Helen Moreton, retail manager for St Leonard’s Hospice, said: “Our supporters are an inventive group, and will always find ways of helping us to help local people and their families.”
Meanwhile, a former hospice care worker who moved to Australia has decided she does not want to miss out on this year’s Midnight Walk for St Leonard’s, so she is taking part in the Adelaide sunshine.
Christine Shaw will be sponsored to walk the same distance at the same time as fundraisers in York at the end of June.
Sue Miller, fundraising manager at St Leonard’s, said: “It’s great that our Midnight Walk has reached around the world and that Christine will be ‘with us’ as we walk through the night in York’s streets!”