Girls step out to keep active and raise money for charity appeal
GIRLS at Beech Hall School have raised more than £1,800 after completing a 97 mile canal walk.
The pupils completed the 97 mile Cheshire Ring Canal walk between them as part of an all-female event and were joined by sisters, mums, grandparents, aunties, cousins and friends.
The girls completed different sections of the loop and passed a baton to fellow pupils who continued the route.
Most of the girls walked one or two sections, but some set themselves gruelling targets – walking 12 hours from 8am to 8pm through the night or running parts of the Cheshire Ring. Females of all ages joined in from five years old to 73-year-old Barbara Allen, who covered four sections walking approximately 15 miles.
The girls began at 6am on Friday, June 30 and completed the challenge within 36 hours, triumphantly walking up Beech Hall Drive at 5pm on Saturday, July 1 – an hour ahead of the deadline.
It was part of the ‘This Girl Can’ programme funded by The National Lottery and developed by Sport England which celebrates active women and encourages girls to exercise.
Jenny Lyons, organiser, said: “This was a tough event to plan and run, with around 80 girls taking part at various stages across Cheshire. The girls rose to the challenge, pushed themselves and supported each other really well.
“Throughout the entire 36 hours, the girls smiled, laughed and chatted away, making new friends and sharing their sense of achievement as they passed the baton across to each group.
“Thanks must also go to the team of dads who did a lot of work behind the scenes.”
The girls chose to raise funds for the Becca’s Wish to Walk appeal. Becca Carey from Congleton was born at 28 weeks, with her twin sister, Lottie, by emergency caesarean section, weighing in at just 2lbs.
She has spastic cerebral palsy which affects all her limbs, and in 2016, she was accepted for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery at the St Louis Children’s Hospital, Missouri, which improved her movement but she is now undergoing intensive physiotherapy which needs to be funded.
Becca and her family joined the Beech Hall Girls at Congleton train station to complete part of that section with Becca on her trike, and also for the final leg back to Beech Hall School.
Co-organiser Tandy Palmes said: “I feel that we have benefited not just the outside community by supporting a local charity but it has brought the Beech Hall School community closer together.”
Visit justgiving.com/ teams/BeechHallGirls.