A Great way to aid charity!

Sep 11 2008 by Daniel Bissett, North Wales Weekly News

A Great way to aid charity!

A CONWY woman is walking in the Far East raising money for a cancer charity.

Heather Butler, 33, who works for Tesco in Bangor, is walking with 19 other colleagues from stores nationwide along the Great Wall of China for Marie Curie.

For Heather the trip has an extra special meaning as her father-in-law Stuart Lynch is ill with cancer.

“I wanted to do something and felt I couldn’t miss out on this opportunity,” she said.

“I decided in January I was going to do this and although my father-in-law’s illness wasn’t necessarily the initial motivation, it does make it more emotional.”

The Great Wall is around 6,700km long, so Heather, who is originally from Glasgow and now lives in Pentre Wech, Conwy, won’t be walking the full distance.

“We’re only going to be there six days, and if we were to walk along the wall from start to finish we’d be out there for a very long time!” she said.

“It’s going to be extremely strenuous and physical, but I’ve been in training ever since I decided I wanted to go and have been walking in the hills around Snowdonia and regularly visited the gym.

“It’s going to be quite an experience because I’ve never been to China before and the group is quite diverse in terms of ages because the youngest is 18 and the oldest is 58. We’re going to be camping so there’s going to be no basic facilities, although we will be on local farmers’ land, so at least there will be some nice scenery.”

Heather, who is still fundraising, is keen to thank colleagues, family, friends and members of the public for supporting her.

“The support and backing I’ve received has been fantastic, especially when I’ve been holding a collection bucket at the front entrance of the store. I’ve raised £3,180 at the moment and the fund is staying open with Tesco promising to put an extra 20% on top of what’s been raised. If anyone wants to donate, they can call into the Bangor store and go to the customer service desk.”