A RETIRED company director set out this week on a Land's End to John O'Groats walk which he hopes will raise £100,000 in sponsor money for the Handicapped Children's Pilgritnage Trust.
John White, 68, who lives in Leicester, and his co-walker Ken Thompson, an officer of the Royal Flight and RAF aircraft engineer, expect to take 33 days to complete their hike. Both have accompanied handicapped youngsters on visits w Lourdes organised through the I ICPT.
Mr White has done two previous long-distance treks for HCPT in the past, walking from Leicester to Newport in 1985 and from Westminster to Lourdes in 1989. He is a governor of the HCPT trust.
Mr Thompson, 30, who has run in several London marathons and in the 1985 Berlin marathon, is using his entire leave to do the current walk.
The route will take the pair through Mr White's home town of Leicester, where he will do some separate fundraising for MENPHYS, a charity for preschool mentally and physically impaired children.