SIXTY adults and seven children took on a massive challenge raising £14,000 is 14 days for a Winchester family support charity.

Participants walked, cycled (on two wheels or on static bikes), jogged, scootered, galloped, even swam as part of Home-Start’s JOGLE fundraiser (John O’Groats to Land’s End and back).

Organised in response to the charity’s loss of funding because of Covid-19, as all fundraising events have had to be scrapped for the foreseeable future. The aim was to travel from John O’Groats to Land’s End and back (around 2,000 miles) but the final total clocked up meant there were enough miles to get all the way back to Land’s End one more time.

Sponsored by IVC Cars of Alresford, entrants were notified of all the major milestones along the way, quickly arriving at Land’s End and then turning round and heading back to the Highlands. As the days progressed, participants let the organisers know what miles they were putting in to achieve their personal goals.

The brainchild of Liz Stannard, Home-Start Winchester’s senior coordinator, both she and her family members took part, putting in 570 miles between them.

Gill Longman clocked up over 60 miles dog walking and swimming; charity volunteer 70 year old Marion Symes beat her original 100 mile target by walking 119 miles, Home-Start trustee Trevor Lewis and his wife Cherill both walked 100 miles as part of his hip replacement rehab, while Dee Smith clocked up 10 miles a day doing a mini triathlon.

The oldest entrant was 87-year-old Janet Bird of Harestock, who despite a prosthetic limb walked one mile every day, and one of the youngest was five year old Elsie Baker.

“It’s been an amazing experience,” said Liz “apart from being great fun, it shows how many good friends we have in our time of need. Every year we have to raise most of our own funding and, like many other charities, we have suddenly found ourselves facing a huge hole in our coffers just when our families need us the most.”

Donations can still be made until the end of June at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HomeStartWinchesterandDistricts