Walk the World - Fenland volunteers stepping out for Save the Children

A band of volunteers are set to walk nearly 3,000 miles to raise money to help boost a charity's coffers after the pandemic hit fundraising in the past year.

Seven committee members from the Wisbech branch of Save the Children are taking on the challenge to 'Walk the World'.

The aim of the challenge is to walk the distance from Wisbech to one of the countries where the charity works to help keep children safe and healthy and the local walkers have chosen Syria.

Vanita Lightfoot, branch secretary, explained: "The countries included the UK, Bangladesh and Yemen. We didn't want to take on a challenge, which people might think was a bit too easy, but at the same time there is only a small group of us so we wanted it to be achievable and that's why we chose Syria.

"It is 2,786 miles and our hope is to reach that target sometime next month. We have already walked over 600 miles and we hope to raise around £3,000.

"It was difficult to decide how much to go for but again we felt £3,000 was a good amount, which would make a big difference to the charity, but also be one that we could reach.

"The pandemic has hit everyone of us, but for millions of children their lives changed overnight as the ability to protect and keep them safe was put on pause, schools closed, routine healthcare stopped.

"Children have also been hit by the economic hardships the pandemic has caused families across the world as well as in this country.

"Even before Covid-19 over four million children lived in poverty in the UK. Many parents have seen their incomes take a serious hit because of the pandemic, meaning even more families are now struggling.

"Save the Children doesn't just work abroad, it works here in this country too, but the pandemic has meant that a lot of our fundraising has stopped and the charity is millions of pounds out of pocket. We were able to carry on with some fundraising such as quizzes because they could be done online, but it is a drop in the ocean of what is needed.

"If everybody sponsored us just £1 it would make a massive difference and we could easily hit our target. The volunteers will be doing walks on our own, as we have done for our daily exercise throughout the pandemic.

"But we also aim to walk together once a week now lockdown restrictions are easing. So if people see us out and about it would be great if they would give us a wave and make a donation via our Just Giving page."

Adrienne Williams, community fundraiser for Save the Children, who is also taking part in the challenge, added: “We are so grateful to our volunteers for coming up with such innovative ideas on how to raise money in the face of the current challenges. Taking part in 'Walk the World' has been a great way of appreciating the beautiful scenery on our doorstep and with every step knowing that we are all helping to make a difference to the lives of families that need our help, now more than ever.”

To donate visit: www.justgiving.com/team/wisbechwalktheworld