Five friends are set to walk more than 180 miles in a bid to raise awareness and funds for a mental health charity helping people across South Derbyshire.

Callum Worker, from Swadlincote, and pals Joe Elkin, Jordan Parker, Billy Widdowson and Simone Baxter are set to walk from Brighton Pier back to The Greyhound Inn, in Ashby Road.

The walk will take place on Saturday, August 29 and is expected to take six days, with the team walking, on average, 30 miles a day.

The pals aim to raise funds for the South Derbyshire Mental Health Association, in Alexandra Road, Swadlincote.

Callum, who works as a operations manager said: “Mental health issues are becoming increasingly common and it’s something that has affected me as my wife suffered from it.

“Along with her, two of the guys that will be participating in the walk have also suffered from mental health problems in the past, so we know how important it is for places like the South Derbyshire Mental Health Association to keep running.

“There’s a big emphasis on mental health, especially with Covid-19 and a lot of people losing their jobs. It has definitely impacted them mentally.

“They managed to secure funding until March 2021, but after that it remains to be seen what happens, which is why we feel it it up to us to do our bit and hopefully raise a sufficient amount for them.

“We’ve received a lot of support from businesses in the area, with more than 20 sponsoring us in different ways.

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“We set a target of £10,000 and have reached more than £8,000 already which is tremendous and I hope we smash the target and raise as much money as possible.

“Moving forward we want to continue supporting organisations closer to home and try and turn this into a regular thing.”

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