Fulwood grandfather walks 22-miles in tribute to son-in-law

John with daughter Amanda and grandsons Edward (left) and Thomas

A grandfather from Fulwood has raised over £500 for Rosemere Cancer Foundation after taking on a 22-mile walk.

68-year-old John Farnden visited his daughter Amanda in Berkshire and her family and used the visit to walk the 22 miles along the towpath of the Kennet and Avon Canal from near Newbury racecourse to his former primary school east of Reading.

The walk took him seven and a half hours with Amanda joining him for the first three miles and Paul for the next five. An old friend, Irene Wallis, also accompanied him for a short way.

The walk was John’s seventh annual challenge for the charity, to which he pledged to do 10 challenges in tribute to his late son-in-law, Ric.

A sports-mad Prestonian, Ric was married to John and Jacqueline’s other daughter Leonie with whom he had sons Oscar now 13 and Sid now 12. Ric died of stomach cancer aged just 35 years old in 2015. He bequeathed John his bike, which John subsequently used for three fundraising cycles from London to Paris, Paris to Geneva and London to Amsterdam and Brussels.

In 2018, John and Leonie joined a Rosemere Cancer Foundation expedition to walk a section of the Great Wall of China and during the two years of the coronavirus pandemic, John stuck to his fundraising promise by walking the Guild Wheel and the middle section of the Celtic Way. His seven challenges have collectively raised more than £7,500 for the charity.

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