A 91-year-old woman has walked 25km to raise money for Penwortham charity Galloways.
AdvertisementMavis Booth has been walking with her family as they have challenged themselves to walk or run a combined distance of 1000km to raise money for the sight loss charity.
Mavis’s son, Simon who is the retired supermarket director Booths supermarket and chairman of Galloways has signed up for the Great North Run as part of the fundraiser.
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He said: “My mum is 91 and she is going to join in but she is going to be walking around the garden.
“We know what the distance is around the garden so we monitor how many times she goes around the garden and we put it in the diary.
“It is weather related as far as mum is concerned so if it’s a nice day she walks and if it’s a rainy day she doesn’t go out.
The Booths family started the challenge at the end of June and all the family are joining as Simon has roped in his wife Jill, and five children Beatrice, 20, Grace, 18, twins Harry and Scarlett-Tillie, both 16, and 11-year-old Arthur, to join him and his mother.
The family are hoping to have completed the 1000km challenge before September 13 and they will be using running app Strava to keep a log of their distance
“Our family has been involved with Galloway’s since the beginning, as both my father and grandfather were chairmen,” he added.
“We have some runners in my family and they were looking for an activity to do. They found the Great North Run Solo, where participants complete 40 runs from June 28 to September 13, and my wife came up with the idea of us all joining together to have a goal of running or walking 1000km.
“We wanted to do this to benefit others and as I am the chairman of Galloway’s, it was key for me to show my support.”
Mavis will be using her wheel chair if she struggles during the challenge and some members will even perform one run blindfolded.
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Simon added: “It is one thing to raise money but it is also important for us to be aware of how difficult it would be for a blind or partially sighted person to run and experience the hazards.”
“We want to do our very best and raise as much money as we can for Galloway’s.
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“The trigger for us is looking at what we can do to help provide more independence and a better quality of life for people who use our services.
“Hopefully people will give generously and raise money for the best cause I can think of.”
The charity which has sites in Penwortham, Chorley, Southport and Morecambe, supports more than 7,000 blind and partially sighted people across Sefton and Lancashire.
You can support the families fundraiser here.
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