THEIR boots did the walking, and having clocked up the miles money raised by Todmorden Boundary Walkers has been given to a good cause.
Around 300 walkers, some completing the 22-mile full walk and others the 12-mile Pike Hike, both organised by Todmorden Rotary Club helped them raise £2,500 for Rotary’s main beneficiary charity this year, the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Club president John Pendlebury presented a cheque for the amount to Michael Jeffrey of MDA and also present were representatives of the clubs and organisations that help Rotarians run the walk, including Calder Valley Search and Rescue Team, radio group Raynet and Todmorden Borough Football Club, whose headquarters at Bellholme were busy as the starting and finishing point of the walk.
Nr Jeffrey spoke about MND’s work, explaining that Motor Neurone Disease is a rapidly progressive fatal disease that can affect any adult at any time and leaves prople unable to walk, talk or feed themselves while in most cases intellect remains intact.
Today there are 5,000 people living with the disease in the UK and four Todmorden people have the conditionm he said.
Mr Jeffrey explained that the MND Association is the only charity in England and Wales funding and promoting research into the disease to find a cure.
It also provides an information and support service, financial grants and equipment loan service forn people affected by MND and said funds raised from the walk would help it to continue its work nationally and locally.
Boundary walk chairman Paul Hughes thanks Mr Jeffrey and also the Boundary Walk’s partners, sponsors, helpers and all the walkers who backed the event by taking part on the day.
The club began organising the event in the early 1980s, resurrecting an event initially run for several years in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Todmorden Round Table in partnership with the Search and Rescue Team Dobroyd Castle, which was then an approved school