A group of friends who live and work around Royston are gearing up for a 54k trek for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

The friends, made up of Abi Moore, Cath Boughton, Christine Brown, Clare Hills, Diane Richmond, Julie Rhodes, Sandrine Gamaury, Sharon Grocott and Sharon Windebank, will take part in the south coast walk across the Seven Sisters and South Downs Way between Eastbourne and Brighton.

GOSH is a charity close to the team’s heart – Sharon Grocott’s niece Cerys Durkin was diagnosed with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome when mum Sarah was just 20 weeks pregnant and received life-saving treatment at GOSH.

The syndrome means Cerys was born with half a working heart and has since gone on to have a number of open heart surgery operations.

The walk, during the August bank holiday weekend, will be completed in one day, and will take an estimated 12 hours.

Sharon said: “Our weekends are taken up with training walks around the countryside. We’re so lucky to have such beautiful countryside right on our doorsteps, although the chalk hills of the Heath are challenging. We will not let the hills beat us.

“This trek is our way of saying thank you to all at GOSH that continue to look after Cerys and all the children under their care.”

Team Cerys D have almost reached their target, and want to say thank you to all the generous donations received so far, from Tesco collections, Glazed Creations pottery evening, and a quiz night at the Old Bull Inn.

To donate, click here.