Littlehampton friends who missed out on exams use GCSE learning to plan big charity challenge

Charlotte Fordham has raised £766 for Leonard Cheshire Disability, Julia Byrne has raised £1,400 for Spinal Injuries Association and Emily Mortley has raised £556 for Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital.

Michael Fordham, Charlotte’s father, said: “They have achieved so much, not only by each raising hundreds of pounds for their chosen charities but also by overcoming so many challenges. They have made a very positive thing out of a negative one. We are so proud of them.”

He works in the activities team at St Bridget’s, the Leonard Cheshire Disability home in Rustington, and Charlotte has visited many times, including volunteering in the charity shop last summer.

She said: “It is such a wonderful place to be, the residents are all such lovely people and the home deserves as much support as possible to continue to care for the residents in the way that they do.

“Coronavirus has had a huge impact on all of our lives but the disabled people who St Bridget’s cares for have been particularly hard hit. They have had to stay isolated from the outside world and those they love for a substantial amount of time in order to best protect them from the virus.”

Through walking the South Downs Way, she wanted to raise money to go towards helping the home to continue to bring a smile to all of the residents’ faces.

Michael added: “The charity shop has been closed since March and this provides much-needed funds for the amazing work there. Charlotte and her school friends decided instead of dwelling on what they had lost this year they would set themselves a challenge of walking the South Downs Way to raise money for their chosen charities.

“They worked together to plan, train for and complete the challenge. In a year of no GCSE exams, they demonstrated their learning from different subjects in the most practical way possible.

“They spent hours training, planning the campsites along the route, discussing suitable equipment and meals, and it was all made harder due to Covid restrictions, plus the extreme weather conditions.”

The challenge started in Winchester and finished in Eastbourne. It took eight days, with seven nights of camping along the route. In total, with all the training walks, the trio covered more than 400km.

Julia said: “This summer was meant to be the best of my life so far – just after my GCSEs, extra long and packed full of new, exiting opportunities. As you can probably guess, due to Covid-19 this hasn’t been the case, however, my two best friends and I decided to use this summer to help to change other people’s lives for the better.

“When we started, I was struggling to walk 16km, let alone the 160km that is needed to walk the South Downs Way. The difficulty is then also increased when you have to do the whole thing carrying a huge backpack, mine weighed in at over 20Kg.

“I decided to raise money for the SIA because it’s a cause that is very close to my heart, considering that my mum is spinal cord injured and the work that the SIA does helps to rehabilitate and enrich the lives of so many people like her when they are first discharged from hospital.”

Emily was due to go to Sri Lanka this summer to volunteer with elephants at a reserve. Instead, she walked with Henry, her hedgehog soft toy, to raise money for animals closer to home.

She said: “My friends Julia, Charlotte and I decided we needed to turn a positive out of the negative that is 2020.

“I am madly passionate about animals and believe the work that Brent Lodge do is invaluable. Every penny we can raise will help some of our most endangered species.”

To support Charlotte’s cause, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/charlotte-fordham1

To support Julia’s cause, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/julia-byrne5

To support Emily’s cause, go toEmily & Henry’s 100 mile Southdowns Way Walk on Facebook