Weston under Wetherley 11-year-old completes 124-mile challenge for charity

An 11-year-old from Western under Wetherley has completed a 124-mile challenge to raise money for charity.

Jacob Scandrett started his challenge on April 27 and completed it on May 8 - also his 11th birthday - by running 1,000 laps around his garden, which worked out to 124 miles.

He has managed to raise more than £600 for The Myton Hospices.

Laurie Scandrett, Jacob's mum, said: "Captain Tom was a big inspiration for Jacob. He knew 100 laps for Captain Tom must have been really hard and it made him think how he could utilise what he had at home in lockdown to help others .

"He wanted to push himself to do something as he could also see how hard other people were working such as key workers in this difficult time.

"He finished his challenge on his birthday on the May 8.

"He would have completed his challenge in 11 days but felt it would be nice to mark and celebrate his last lap on his birthday and so kept one lap back for this."

Jacob said: "I was just so happy when I finished my challenge, when I realised what I had done I felt so excited I had managed to achieve it.

"It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and felt very relieved I had finished as I felt very tired after the challenge.

"It was the least I could do when everyone is working so hard and I wanted to thank Myton Hospices for working hard and I also want to say a big thank you to everyone that’s donated."

Laurie added: "You couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he realised the amount he raised and now managed to complete it for everyone that supported him.

"As a family we have been incredibly proud of what he has done. Particularly as he drove this forward and had thought about doing this all by himself, being a real inspiration to us all.

"He is sad that with lockdown he cannot go and see the staff to thank them in person and let them know what he has been doing, but is planning on sending them a letter once all his donations come in."

Jacob has often donating money to charities, particularly ones that develop cancer research.

Laurie said: "Jacob regularly shows concern about different charities and the want to help them, often putting birthday or pocket money into charities such as cancer research.

"He often talks about supporting charities relating to cancer as we have unfortunately as a family experienced heartache from the terrible condition and I also work as a oncology nurse at the Aylesford unit at Warwick Hospital.

"Jacob chose the Myton Hospices in particular, as he felt that even though the NHS and other big charities during the lockdown were really important.

"He was very aware that there were also lots of other smaller charities that rely on donations to be able to run and that during lockdown they may not be able to do as much fundraising as normal.

"Therefore Jacob felt they were just as important at this difficult time. Myton Hospices being local to ourselves and also offering support to people that do suffer with cancer, Jacobs jumped at the chance to support them."

To donate go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Laurie-Scandrett