Nikki Purcell raises £700 for children’s charity!

Nikki Purcell has raised an amazing £700 for Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People, by walking 5km a day every day for 50 weeks during 2021.

Nikki, Head of Schools at R.E.A.L. Education, raises money for charity most years and, after turning 50 in December 2020, felt inspired for a new challenge.

Nikki said: “I signed up for a virtual 5km sponsored walk in January last year but I felt it wasn’t challenging enough. I completed the initial 5km in one morning, so I thought why not set a target of walking 5km every day for 50 weeks of 2021. I also wanted to do something for myself from a wellbeing perspective”.

During the year Nikki walked around 1750km (that’s 1087 miles!) and somehow managed to fit this in alongside working and normal life duties. “I often split the 5km across the day, so 2km before work, 1km during the day and 2km after work,” Nikki said. “But this wasn’t always possible, so the days when I’d get home from work and still had a large portion of the walk to do were the hardest ones.”

Knowing she was raising money for a good cause served as motivation for Nikki to complete each walk, as well as popping in her headphones to listen to music or being joined by family members. “My Mum, aunties, husband and step-children have all joined me on walks, but most recently my grandson joined me – which was great!” Nikki said.

Nikki tried to vary her walks and these ranged from walking in her own house on bad weather days, to on the beach in the summer: “I really enjoyed the walks I did when I was away on holiday; I went to Bath, Weston-super-Mare and Bristol. I also enjoyed walking around Wollaton Park to take in their Christmas light display in December.”

Nikki’s target was to raise £600 for charity, which she surpassed with a grand total of £700. Nikki said: “I’m so pleased I achieved more than my target. I know things are very difficult for many people at the moment and their generosity has been incredible.”

If you’d like to donate to this great cause, there’s still time for you to do this by clicking this link here.