DEDICATED staff at a North-East hospice have organised their own sponsored walk to raise funds to ‘give back’ to their patients.

Six members of Butterwick Hospice Care will be trekking 12 miles around Richmond, on Saturday, September 4, to raise money to help with the vital work carried out by the hospice.

When the day-care staff at the Bishop Auckland site returned to ‘face to face’ work after lockdown, Di Coleman, Clinical Sister, decided to plan a team-building day, and combine it with something to raise money towards the continuing care of patients at the hospice.

Complementary therapist, Helen Bellas, suggested holding a sponsored walk, and six members of staff rose to the challenge, hoping to raise in excess of £750.

As well as Di and Helen, the other walkers taking part are complementary therapists Val Wintrell, Debbie Davies, Helen Bellas, and John Todd, and healthcare assistant, Elaine Carter.

“We’re very passionate about the work we do with the Hospice, and we know how much it matters to local people to have this facility,” said Di. “We saw this as a great opportunity to give back to our patients.”

“We’re all looking forward to it, and the fund raising is going really well. Many of the patients are sponsoring us and saying they’ll be thinking of us on Saturday.”

The group plans to set off at 9.30am, and expect the 12-mile walk to take them about five hours.

Holiday Inn, Darlington, at Scotch Corner, has kindly donated rooms for the tired walkers to rest in at the end of their trek.