Schoolboy takes on 500-mile walk for Newbury care home

Toby Thorp's marathon effort is raising funds for Willows Edge

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy is channelling his inner Proclaimer by walking 500 miles to raise money for Willows Edge Care Home.

Toby Thorp, who will go into Year 5 at The Winchcombe School, Newbury, in September, started going into the Newbury care home to meet the residents a year ago with his mother Vicky, who is a care officer there.

When the coronavirus lockdown began, Toby struggled with the change to his routine and started going on walks around West Berkshire with his mother, to help with his anxiety.

Soon after, he realised how hard it would be for the residents who were shielding and weren’t able to see their loved ones.

As a result, Toby set himself the challenge of walking 500 miles to raise money for the home’s amenity fund, with the sum raised then being put towards a post-lockdown reunion party or craft event.

The schoolboy has managed to raise £450 so far, smashing his initial £100 target, and is now hoping to raise £500 for the care home.

Since beginning his walks on April 1, Toby has walked a whopping 410 miles – often with his seven-year-old brother Miles – and is planning on finishing his challenge before he goes back to school at the beginning of September.

Mrs Thorp said: “He feels good, he’s not as tired as me. He’s very energetic and just ready to get going.

“He was really struggling with losing the routine of going to school and after-school clubs and it was a struggle for a week, being in the house all the time.

“I said to him the only thing we can do is the daily walk, which he agreed to.

“He dipped in the middle and didn’t want to do it anymore and that’s when he came up with this idea which motivated him.

“Since we set up the Just Giving page, he wants to go walking five times a day.

“We get home and he says, ‘shall we go again?’”

Toby clocked up 12 miles over the weekend, while their longest route was a mammoth 16-mile, all-day trek.

Mrs Thorp continued: “It’s a good achievement for the end of lockdown.

“He can look back and say this is what I did and feel really proud in himself.

“He could easily have sat and wasted the day on his PlayStation.

“I’m very proud of him – I adore all our residents at work anyway and he’s such a gentle boy and so kind and considerate. For him to come up with the idea himself I was really proud.

“I was cooking pasta when he first suggested that we could fundraise and I thought it was brilliant.”

To donate to Toby’s cause, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/willowsedgenewbury