A group of friends have teamed up and completed a sponsored walk of the Guild Wheel to raise money for St Catherine’s Hospice.

The team of colleagues at HMRC joined together when Helen Eade decided to raise money for the hospice after her friend Lesley had treatment for breast cancer.

Lesley is now a volunteer at St Catherine’s and Helen is also about to start volunteering.

Helen decided to convince a few friends from work to walk the Guild Wheel for sponsorship and hoped that collectively they could raise £500.

Read more: Hundreds of cyclists will tackle a bike ride challenge for St Catherine’s Hospice

By the day of the walk on Saturday 6 May, the group had already raised sponsorship of around £3000, further encouraging them to complete the 21 miles of the Guild Wheel.

The seven friends who took part in the walk included Helen Eade, Nicola Martin, Nicola Richardson, Claire Ormond, Penny Clifford, Anne Freeman and Amy Graham.

Nicola Martin said: “St Catherines relies on donations, bequests and fundraising activities to fund 3.5 million of their 5.2 million running costs.

“We wanted to do something to help as one day we may need their services.

“We met at the Continental, in pink wigs and with a donation bucket and set off.

“Along the way people gave up their paper money, ice cream money and children’s pocket money.

“As well as the donations, people helped by cheering us on, stopping to talk to us and pomping their horns.

“By the time we reached the Continental at the end of the 21 miles we were all tired but had thoroughly enjoyed the walk and meeting so many people.”

People offered their support during the walk and made donations including cars who stopped safely, cyclists who dug around in their lycra and a farmer who even stopped his tractor.

At the end of the walk, the customers of the Continental also showed amazing generosity by continuing to donate in large numbers.

The group raised an additional £400 on the day, increasing their total to over £3600.

Helen Eade is now organising a further benefit at St Gerrard’s club in Lostock Hall on 16 June.

Tickets will be £3 each and, as well as a DJ, there will be a tombola and a raffle.

The group are asking individuals and businesses to consider donating prizes for both, and to do so you can get in touch with Nicola Martin by emailing her.

If you would like to offer a donation for the sponsored walk, you can donate via the Just Giving page.

Have you visited the Guild Wheel recently? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below