Sponsored 11-mile walk from Fareham to Southsea sees Co-op colleagues raise funds for Mind

Six store workers from Co-op in Highlands Road, Fareham, took on an 11-mile walk in their latest fundraiser for the charity, for which they have already raised more than £700.

Colleagues Annie Jones, Hayden Price, David Price, Lauren Lycett, Ben Overington and store manager Phil Watson spent nearly eight hours on the hike from their store to Southsea Common.

Annie, a supervisor at the shop, said: ‘It was worth it. It was a nice day out for us, six of us did it including the store manager. We’re all quite close as a working family and it’s nice to spend time together outside of work.

‘It wasn’t too bad. Halfway through we did realise we had a long way to go but when you know you’re doing it for charity it gives you that extra push.’

Mind has been chosen as one of the charities of the year for the Highlands Road store, with plenty of fundraising ideas from the staff going ahead.

As well as the sponsored walk, they recently held a raffle for a hamper of Co-op goodies and in the near future they hope to put on a ‘pie a colleague’ day.

The group hopes to raise as much money as possible for the mental health charity, which needs an extra boost to help people with the isolating effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Annie, from Fareham, added: ‘With everything that’s going on, mental health has risen quite a lot. My mum suffered with mental health in the past so Mind is quite a personal charity for me.

‘I know how stressful it can be for someone with it and their friends and family. Not a lot of people are aware of mental health and how to deal with it.

‘Mind is all about raising awareness and supporting people with mental health and basically saying it’s OK if you’re not OK.

‘I would like to raise as much as I can because of the charity it is and the situation we’re all in at the moment. Any little donations would be fantastic.’

Visit justgiving.com/fundraising/coop-highlandsroad to make a donation towards the store’s total for Mind.

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