Leanne Thornewill is walking 40 miles for charity

Leanne Thornewill from Jenrick Engineering, along with 4 friends will be participating in this years ‘Keswick to Barrow’ 40 mile walk on Saturday 9th May to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Leanne decided she wanted to challenge herself and do something different to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

“There are a number of reasons for me doing this walk, in the last 3 years, 3 close family / friends have been diagnosed with cancer. You always read about it but you never expect that people who you are close to you have been diagnosed with it.

In 2006 I had a close family member who passed away battling Cancer, that year I ran Race for Life.

Most recently my auntie has been fighting Cancer and thankfully she has been given the ‘all clear’, however my best friend’s mum is still battling Breast Cancer.

I wanted to do something a little different this year to raise money, a higher target and something for me to work towards. We’ve been training since October, although furthest we have walked is 35 miles.”

Leanne will be walking with Nikki Perry, Sheril Newberry & Claire Graham (pictured) with Gemma who originally suggested the walk, to raise money for a variety of charities personal to them, the charities include: Alzheimer's association (Derby Branch), Age Concern & The British Heart Foundation.

So far Leanne has raised a staggering £1900 in sponsorship, with £1000 coming from her employer – Jenrick Group, based in Burton-on-Trent.

Leanne received the £1,000 of company support through the company’s internal charity donation initiative ‘Helping Hand’, whereby staff can nominate any charity for an online vote by all staff members. Leanne received the highest number of votes and was therefore awarded £1000 for Cancer Research UK.

Manager of the Jenrick Engineering, Burton office has been impressed with Leanne’s commitment:

“We are all very proud of what Leanne is doing and we are extremely pleased to play our part by donating £1,000 to the cause”

To sponsor Leanne please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/leannethornewill

The idea of walking from Keswick to Barrow originated in 1966 as a result of a statement made by the late US President, John F Kennedy to the effect that "every American should be capable of walking 50 miles a day". For more information please visit: www.keswicktobarrow.co.uk.