A 72-YEAR-OLD who wing walked for charity has reached the final stage in his fundraising endeavour.

Tom Wilson, from Hartlepool, raised £3,801 smashing his original target by more than £1,000.

Inspired by last year’s Sunderland Airshow, Tom took on the stunt to raise money for Hartlepool Blind Welfare Association, Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Locomotive Conservation and Learning Trust – three charities personal to him.

He completed the wing walk in early June, and on Sunday July 22 Tom and his daughter, Anita Wilson, hosted a charity handover at Hartlepool Cricket Club for those who sponsored his challenge.

He said: “The response from people at the handover was very good. The buffet was provided by my favourite café, Dot’s Place, and one of the girls made a cake of the biplane. It was absolutely fantastic, everyone commented on that.

“At the end of the day we were shocked by how much was actually raised.”

For the last year, Tom and Anita have been fundraising and are delighted by the number of donations from people and businesses.

They received support from local corporate sponsors such as Bondgate IT Services, Darlington, and Trucks and Tractors, Bishop Auckland. They also received sponsors from Hartlepool companies Chequered Flag, Victoria House Funeral Services and Hartlepool and Flaxton Street Wrought Iron Works.

His daughter, Anita, said: “I cannot get over how generous people have been. The individual sponsors, the corporate sponsors, the people and firms that supported Tom in other ways.

“Whether they are friends, family, companies, the general public or the lady in the pound shop who went into her purse and gave Tom a donation.Whether they live in Grantham, Kirkby Stephen, Sheffield, Scotland, locally or in Australia.

“I’d like to say a big ‘thank you’ to them all.”

Next week, Anita and Tom will be closing down their fundraising Facebook page and returning to their normal day-to-day activities.

Tom added: “I didn’t realise the amount of work that would be involved in doing something silly and raising money out of it.

“I’m sorry it’s over because it was quite enjoyable but it will be nice to get back to building steam engines and models again.”