Wallasey man raises £1000 for Hoylake Cottage’s Day Care Appeal by walking the Great Wall of China

Nov 11 2009 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

A WALLASEY man walked the Great Wall of China in aid of Hoylake Cottage’s Day Care Appeal.

Tony Collins, 39, completed the mammoth challenge of eight days of walking and climbing as part of a guided group.

The climb took walkers across desert, grasslands and mountains in the most remote and isolated parts of Beijing.

Tony said: “The whole experience was amazing, the weather was good, the food was good and it was a great personal achievement. What made it for me were the views, I was just gobsmacked the whole time.”

Tony, a driver for Wirral Council, decided to take on the challenge when he heard about it through Hoylake Cottage’s Emma Keenan.

His trip to China was his first fundraiser for Hoylake Cottage but last May he successfully completed a marathon in Windermere and is hoping to climb Mount Kilimanjaro as his next challenge.

So far Tony has raised £1000 of his £2100 target for Hoylake Cottage’s Day Care Appeal. Emma, a community fundraiser for Hoylake Cottage, said: “We are thrilled that Tony has completed such an amazing challenge and want to congratulate him for all his efforts.”

The first phase of the Day Care Appeal is for £500,000 for a new kitchen to serve both the nursing home and the day care centre. The Hoylake Cottage board has agreed to investigate the feasibility of starting work on the kitchen, using the combination of a loan and appeal funds.

Fundraising director Helen Latham said: “It’s been a great start and we have now laid the foundations for what will be an important year ahead in making progress towards our new target of £1 million for a centre dedicated to providing day care to older people.”