A WOMAN from Cofton Hackett is organising a charity 'Walk for the Boys' in memory of her father-in-law, who died of prostate cancer last year.

Clare Southall decided to take on the challenge of walking the Wychavon Way in memory of her father-in-law David Dixon, and to raise some money for research into his condition.

Mrs Southall said: “I said I’d do something for prostate cancer research and I didn’t manage it while he was alive. He used to have a caravan near Broadway and they used to cycle all round Evesham and Pershore, so when I found this route and I felt it’s definitely got to be that route, it’s so appropriate to them.

“The actual booklet recommends you do it over three or four days, but I thought I’ve got to make it a challenge.”

Originally Mrs Southall had plans to take on the walk by herself, but the event has snowballed, and now she has hopes of raising as much as £1,000 for Prostate Cancer UK.

She added: “I just mentioned it to a few friends. I thought it might be a bit boring walking on my own and people might like to join me for a few miles, and then somebody said ‘I’d like to do it, my grandad died of prostate cancer’ and people just kept getting in touch wanting to join in, that’s how it’s escalated, and we‘re up to 20 now.”

The walk follows 40 miles of footpaths from Droitwich to Broadway, and walkers will be ending their first day in Pershore. Mrs Southall is in talks with Waitrose in Droitwich to see if it might be able to lend any support to the event, as well as Asda in Pershore. She’s also had to talk to various pubs and shops about making their facilities open to the walkers as the number of participants rises.

She added: “We’re going to be looking for helpers and marshalls if there’s a huge number of people, but the more the merrier.”

Anyone is welcome to take part in the 'Walk for the Boys', which is taking place over the weekend of May 17 and 18, or they can just sponsor Mrs Southall in her efforts.

For more information on taking part, write to Mrs Southall at csmoose43@gmail.com. She would like walkers to make a minimum £5 donation to the charity if they intend to take part, or they can sponsor her efforts at justgiving.com/Walkingfortheboys.