Grandfather walks from South Shields to Sunderland to raise money for Daft as a Brush cancer charity

On Sunday, March 20, Thomas King, known to those closest to him as Tot, walked with his family and members of the Daft as a Brush charity from South Shields to Sunderland.

The group of walkers set off at 9am from Colmans Seafood Temple and finished the walk around two hours later at Sunderland’s Grand Hotel in Seaburn.

The 84-year-old grandfather decided to take on the challenge as his friend at Redhouse Community Centre, Stew Littlemore, uses the charity’s ambulances to get to and from hospital appointments.

Tot’s daughter, Lisa King, 46, from Redhouse, took part in the walk and remarked that it was a special moment for the family to see their dad complete the challenge.

She said: “It was amazing, we managed to finish it in around two hours with my dad leading the way in front of the group the entire time.

"When we finished it, we could tell that dad was over the moon and was really pleased with what we had achieved – we all were.

"One of the things that made it special for us was that we got to see our dad who is over 80-years-old walk for two hours straight.

"We just all had a laugh the entire way, people were coming up and congratulating us along the way and donating money into the charity buckets, one man even gave just £20.”

Speaking ahead of the walk on Sunday, Daft as a Brush founder Brian Burnie highlighted that the money will go towards of the costs of running the charity’s ambulances.

He said: “These people are truly remarkable to raise money for Daft as a Brush as it will help us to buy another ambulance.

"The money will not only go towards new ambulances but the cost of running them as well, especially with the cost of fuel going through the roof at the moment.

"It is looking like it will cost us another £80,000 so any fundraising like this is a great help.”

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