A FARMER aims to raise £10,000 for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) by walking the full length of Hadrian’s Wall non-stop at the end of this month.
Neil Young, 41, of Crummock Bank Farm, Waverton, has supported GNAAS for years, and when the charity launched their ‘Walk The Wall’ challenge, asking the public to virtually walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall, he decided to take part, but with a twist.
The full length of the wall is 84 miles, and those who take on the challenge for GNAAS need to walk the equivalent length during January.
Neil, who has raised thousands of pounds for GNAAS, has signed up for the challenge, but he’s going to attempt to walk alongside the wall non-stop on 28 and 29 January.
He said: “I’m not your average guy and I love to do sporadic things, so I thought why not?
“The record is 31 hours so I’m going to give it a go and see what happens.”
In the past, Neil’s fundraising for GNAAS has included transforming some of his land into a sunflower field and opening it to the public as well as dressing up in a sunflower costume to run the Great North Run and the London Marathon.
Last year he dressed up as a unicorn to complete the Great North Run and also attended GNAAS’ 20’s themed ball, which celebrated 20 years as a registered charity.
Neil’s late mother Gillian Young volunteered for the charity for several years and helped raise awareness and funds for GNAAS in a variety of ways.
It was her wish to see her son conquer the challenge, but she sadly passed away earlier this month after battling cancer.
He said: “I’m just a simple farmer with a big heart that loves to make people happy, smile and laugh, but most of all I want to make my late mum proud.”
Neil plans to set up a live tracker so people can follow his journey and he’s asking people to come and support him along the way, throughout the day and night.
Speaking about GNAAS, he said: “I love the air ambulance. They are totally charity funded and do such an excellent job and in my line of work chances are if anything happened to me, I’d need them, so it’s important to support them.”
At the time of writing, Neil has already raised more than £1,000 and you can sponsor him via his JustGiving page.
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