Inspired by the #WalkWithTom campaign from The Captain Tom Foundation, Evie and Amelie from Olney Middle School, raised £1067 for Willen Hospice by doing as many laps as possible around Emberton Country Park, completing over 10 miles!

Evie’s Mum, Poppy Cheetham, said “Fundraising has always played a role in our family, whether its popping items into the food bank or giving clothes bundles to MK homeless. Evie has always wanted to do that little bit extra to help people, and this year has certainly amplified that.

This year Evie was inspired by Captain Tom and his amazing awareness campaign for the NHS raising millions for deserving causes! She wanted to do the same for a local community charity close to MK’s heart – Willen Hospice!

So she talked to her friend Amelie from Olney Middle School, who has equally been inspired and wanted to help fundraise, and they decided to walk as many laps as they could around Emberton Park.

We set up their Just Giving page, and then started training! This started off as laps around their playground, more of their class bubble joined in and encouraged them, and in the evenings we were dragged out for foggy walks using our phones to gauge how far to walk! This continued all the way up to the final weekend!

On the day, even though it was grey and dull there was no rain thankfully and they set off to cheers from family and friends – socially distanced of course. They managed a fantastic result of 10.44 miles and donations have continued to flood in with huge thanks to our friends, family and generous local community! “

Dawn Clark, Challenges Fundraiser said, “These two young girls are little local heroes! We are one of four charities supported by The Captain Tom Foundation so it’s incredible that these two young girls felt so inspired by the #WalkWithTom campaign, that they decided to really challenge themselves. They raised a fantastic £1067, which will help us to continue caring for people with life-limiting illnesses and at the end of their lives, as well as supporting their families.”

Willen Hospice needs to raise £4.7m every year, that’s £9 a minute. It’s been an incredibly tough year for the charity, but thanks to these two young girls giving up their time and training hard to raise funds, the charity can continue caring for those in need.