Pontefract student organises charity hike from Wakefield to Filey to raise money for Andy's Man Club

George Wainwright will be joined by three friends, Elliott Everett, Adam Malcolm and Jacob Dougan, on the 72-mile hike over three days from July 14 to 16 to raise money for the Andy’s Man Club mental health charity.

George said: “Our route has been planned with both OS and Google maps and we plan to all take turns on the walk with our phones to display the route.

"We've pre-booked two campsites already and I've spent hours making a detailed walk plan and equipment list for us all to use.”

The Year 12 student said the group often go for a walk on a Wednesday, and they had joked about one day walking to the Yorkshire coast.

George said: “Unknowingly, this joking remark is where the seeds of this walk were planted. We then started treating it as something serious and after a few weeks of failed attempts of convincing our parents we were successful.”

The group of four have been preparing by increasing the length of their walks recently, including covering routes such as Outwood to Sandal Castle and Newmillerdam, as well as carrying out their own independent training.

They will survive off of ration packs for the three days, which George said he is used to as a cadet.

At college, George is a member of the Charity and Fundraising Student Executive and is also a senior army cadet in Normanton. The Normanton detachment have agreed to supply the group with equipment for the walk.

The group has set up a Just Giving page, and have already raised a substantial proportion of their £1,000 goal. George said contributions have come from friends, family, cadet detachments and George’s college.

He added: “It is still weeks away and I'm astonished by the support we've received.”

Andy’s Man Club is a men’s mental health charity which provides over 190 free-to-attend support groups across the UK which aim to end the stigma surrounding men’s mental health.