WHOOP FOR DAISY!

When his four-year-old makes a plan, Danny Hooper, 36, from Burnley, knows better than to argue!

Breathless and beaten, I rested on top of Pendle Hill.

But the climb hadn’t knocked the wind out of my daughter Daisy, four.

‘Come on, Daddy!’ she said, doing a cartwheel in front of me. ‘Let’s go back down!’

Slapping my hands on my thighs, I stood up again. ‘Right, come on then,’ I laughed. With Pendle Hill right on our doorstep, we often did this climb together on weekends.

Daisy never tired of it, physically or mentally!

Not long afterwards, in January last year, Daisy and I were strolling through the centre of Burnley, when we spotted the people from Pendleside Hospice selling sweets.

Daisy wanted to know what they were raising money for.

‘It’s for poorly people who can’t come home,’ I explained gently.

Daisy stood there for a while, thinking about what I’d said and seemed to take it in – and then she piped up…

‘How can I help, Daddy?’ she asked.

That was my girl, always looking for ways she could help others.

So young, but already so selfless.

We raced home to come up with some ideas.

I said she could sell things or take part in an event… but she didn’t like the sound of either.

‘What if I climbed Pendle Hill 100 times in a year?’ she asked me, completely serious.

I was honest with her – 100 times would be a bit tricky!

But a sponsored climb was a really great idea.

‘Let’s try for 52 times instead,’ I smiled to her.

And, with that, we set up Daisy’s Gofundme page.

We had a goal of £1,000 and figured that we could reach this by Christmas. Not that Daisy needed much coaxing!

Every Saturday morning from early February, she’d hop out of bed, wash, dress and pull on her walking boots. ‘Ready!’ she’d beam. I’d hardly woken up at that point, but nothing was going to stop my girl!

We climbed in all weather, in all conditions, as long as it was safe.

Daisy was barely 4ft tall, but she tackled the snowy trails like a pro. With the wind buffeting her rosy cheeks, she did nothing but smile. Some days it was just the two of us. And at other times, we’d take her siblings up as well. If I was busy, she’d do the climb with her mum Samantha, 30. And, when the summer holidays rolled around, our Daisy started climbing almost every day. She became a little celebrity, famous on the Pendle Hill walk.

People stopped to say hello, to smile – and one woman even donated £50 on the spot.

Daisy’s generous spirit was inspiring everyone.

So, by the bank holiday in August, we’d raced past our original one-grand target.

Now there was one walk to go, and Daisy gave it her all. With over 100 friends and family in tow, she reached the peak and cartwheeled. ‘We did it!’ she yelped. ‘You sure did,’ I beamed proudly.

Our amazing little girl had completed her challenge.

She’d walked more than 95,000ft – three times Mount Everest’s summit above sea level.

And she’d raised an amazing grand total of £6,000.

Since then, she’s been nominated for awards, led other sponsored walks, and still climbs Pendle Hill as often as she can.

She’s really proud of what she’s achieved, and so am I!

Daisy is a star and I can’t wait to see what she does next.