John Cunningham has a lot to boast about. After all, not many peole have raised £1m for charity. But the remarkable man who stepped out to help others is still loath to talk about his achievements. Sharon Griffiths manages to coax a few words out of him.

JOHN Cunningham is a remarkable man. So remarkable that we had to coax him into doing this interview. "I prefer to do things quietly, really," he says, uneasy at all the attention.

But maybe it's time to shout a bit, or quite a lot really, for in just over 20 years, 65-year-old John has raised a staggering £1m for local charities, mainly on his own two feet in a series of marathon walks.

And we're not talking tiddling little afternoon strolls here, or even 26 mile marathons. No, John's walks have included Land's End to John o' Groats - the pretty way that was 1,000 miles; the length of Wales, the length of Ireland, the West Highland Way - in both directions - Paris to London, and the Glens of Antrim. And more, many more.

"I've done more than 100,000 miles altogether, every county in Britain and 29 out of the 32 in Ireland as well as part of France and I've loved it," he says.

Now a cracked hip and other medical problems mean John's under doctor's orders to hang up his boots - though he still gets out and about to rattle a collecting tin. "I'd love to carry on with the walking but I just can't now, so I do what I can, even if it means sitting down to do the collecting."

A painter and decorator by trade, a keen amateur footballer - he once had trials for Queen of the South - and a qualified sports coach, John, who lives Stanley near Consett, had always been involved in the community, running football teams "for youngsters who maybe couldn't get a game in school".

The walking started in November 1986. He'd been out of work for a few weeks and feeling a bit sorry for himself. "Yet I knew there were many people much worse off than me, so I thought about what I could do," he says. "Walking is the most natural thing in the world, so I thought I'd do a 1,000- mile walk."

The way you do...

To make it simple, he did the distance round the running track at Stanley - 30 miles a day for 33 consecutive days. But first of all he went into training. "I'd told a lot of people I was doing it and I didn't want to be left with egg on my face," he explains.

On the first day of training he walked to Blanchland and back. The second day he walked to Alston via Neville's Cross. The third day he walked to the city centre in Newcastle. "And on the fourth day I went 300 yards to post a letter, tripped over a flagstone and cracked my toe."

Undeterred, he completed his 1,000 miles, gave a substantial donation to Children in Need and, despite himself, featured on primetime TV. "All sorts of people saw me. I had phone calls from all over Europe," he says.

But his walking career was launched. He found a new job too.

Not for John the big razzmatazz circus of many sponsored walks. Usually there was just him and his backpack. He stayed in bed and breakfasts and instead of a specially developed diet, just grabbed food where he could, "Fish and chips, café, just what I could get really."

Typical of his journeys was one of his Irish walks - a cheap flight to Belfast, two bus journeys - including one that went only twice a week - and then he found the nearest he could get to the start of his walk was 18 miles away.

"So I had to walk the 18 miles to Mizzen Head before I could turn round and walk back again to start the walk properly."

He did masses of overtime so he could take time off in lieu to do the walks and always paid his own way, his own petrol, his own fares, his own accommodation. "I was doing it for the children. Everything I made, I gave to them," he says.

One of the main beneficiaries of his fund raising has been the Children's Heart Unit Fund, based at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle,where they perform over 200 heart operations on babies and young children each year. He has also raised money for Macmillan Nurses and cancer relief.

As he walked he made a point of greeting people, made many friends and has particularly fond memories of Ireland "lovely people" and of the Asian community in Leicester "the most generous".

"But I've always collected for North-East charities, so when people en route wanted to give me money, I'd tell them no thank you, but to give it to a good cause in their own area."

There have been one or two less pleasant incidents, including the time he got concussion walking across England from Maryport to Tynemouth Priory. "I wasn't at all well so I thought I'd better go home for the weekend, but I went back and finished it after that. Otherwise, all my walks have been continuous."

Since the very early days he's never had a blister. "I just rub Vaseline or even Dubbin on any sore places and that sorts the friction," says John.

With much of the walking on main roads, the other problem is keeping the concentration up. "Otherwise it would be very easy to drift into the traffic. But the secret of the walking is the mind, the body and the emotions working together and thinking of the cause. When I remembered what I was doing it for, there were no problems.

"When I was 55 I was the fittest I'd ever been. I walked the length of Wales from Cardiff to Holyhead and was doing 47 miles a day. I was really psyched up, I felt invincible. It was a wonderful feeling."

John started walking most days at 5am and his ideal conditions were a light drizzle, though he's been soaked through on many occasions.

"Sometimes I'd get to the bed and breakfast at the end of the day, have a shower, something to eat and then I think, oh well, I might as well do another six miles or so."

When John was at home working all that overtime, he didn't have so much spare time to walk. "So I'd run instead. I'd come in from work and then five nights a week I would run eight miles. Just to keep myself tuned up."

His wife and children, now grown up but still living nearby, were encouraging, supportive and proud. "But it was just something I did and got on with it," he says.

But wherever John walked, he always planned it so he was walking towards home. "With every step I was getting closer to home and the family and that would always keep me going," he explains.

Over the years John has made many friends - including Kevin Keegan - "a lovely man, very genuine and generous, we're still in touch" - carried the baton for the Commonwealth Games and received Rotary's honour of the Paul Harris Award.

Ironically after all that walking, it was a fall from a low rung of a ladder that cracked his hip, which now, compounded by other problems, has led to John's retirement.

But he still collects. For 29 years he has collected in the Asda store in Stanley and Spennymoor. Ann Allison who's in charge of Asda's fund raising in Spennymoor describes John as "truly inspiring". "He doesn't shout about his voluntary work but he is loved by colleagues and customers alike. He is an amazing man," she says.

John will be collecting again this year. "I have to make it 30 years at least," he says. "One of the nice things is the people I meet. It's amazing how often when I'm collecting in the supermarkets, someone will come up and say that they've been in the Children's Heart Unit, had an operation and it's lovely to see them looking well and healthy.

"I have had some marvellous times, met some wonderful people. It's been hard but I've enjoyed every step.

"But that's what it's all been about really - it's been for the children."