Over £2,100 has been raised by a group of fundraisers in Lympsham, near Burnham-On-Sea, to fund vital equipment for Weston General Hospital during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Ten families – varying in age from 2 to 76 – have been taking part in an ‘Exercise Challenge’, walking the 874-mile distance from Lands End to John O’ Groats during their daily exercise allowance. As the target was met, they upgrade their target to the North Pole!
“We set out on our challenge three weeks ago and this week reached The North Pole – a total of 2,756 miles from Lands End,” says Sarah Saxon, one of the organisers with Jim Bishop.
“We made a ‘North Pole’ for our expedition which has been in situ outside Lympsham Sports Pavilion. The experience has really captured the children’s imagination and it has given us all something to positive to focus on each day. It really has been good for everyone’s physical and mental wellbeing.”
“We’ve raised over £2,100 to date for Weston Hospital through sponsorship, which is going to be used for personal protective equipment (PPE), so it has been a real achievement.”
“Jim came up with the idea of using our daily exercise to go the distance of 874 miles from Lands End to John O’ Groats. When we ‘arrived’ at John O’ Groats we were enjoying ourselves so much and raising money for such an important cause that we decided to continue to the North Pole.”
She adds: “We are going to carry on with the exercise challenge whilst we are in lockdown and see where in the world our mileage takes us!”
“The children who have taken part include Harriet, Holly and Delphia from Lympsham Pre-School; Luke, Beatrix, Florence, Lily, Stanley, Teddy, Fletcher, Jasmine and Elliot from Lympsham Academy, Sophie from East Brent Academy, Ella, Jacob, James, Sam, Heidi, Lola, Finley, Abbie and Emily from HSMS; and Rosie, Laura, Jennifer, Ethan and Kaitlin from Kings of Wessex, along with their families and some friends.”
You can find more information about their daily adventures, including quite a few wildlife photos, on their Facebook page at Lympsham Lockdown Exercise Challenge. To donate, see https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/heather-allsopp-1
