School's out for dad Lenny after 150-mile hike from London to Newport
Lenny Worthing's six-day hike across the 150 miles from London to Newport ended with an entire school giving him a guard of honour.
Among the pupils in the crowd at Adams' Grammar School in Newport was Lenny's son, Archie, who is in year nine at the school and said he couldn't be more proud.
Equivalent to running a marathon a day, the 47-year-old has raised over £2,300, which will go to Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes and Pilgrim Bandits.
Lenny said: "While raising money for two very worthy causes, I also wanted to link the journey to the school in some way.
"I was delighted when Headmaster Gary Hickey was able to arrange for me to start from the very impressive Haberdashers' Hall in London, which is the headquarters of the school's trustees, the Haberdashers' Livery Company.
"The six-day journey was really hard, often on rough terrain, and the weather was not always on my side with thunder and lightning to contend with on one of the days, but I met some amazing people along the way with complete strangers coming up to me to donate money.
"It was amazing to be welcomed back by the whole school and to have the chance to raise awareness of two very special charities.
"The Pilgrim Bandits Charity was set up by a small group of Special Forces veterans in 2007 to help and inspire wounded soldiers to live life to the full, while Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes is a very young charity that has only been around for two years.
"The headmaster invited the two charities into school and pupils were able to meet volunteers and to see one of the blood bikes used to make free deliveries to NHS hospitals in Staffordshire and Shropshire of medical equipment, blood and even breast milk for premature babies.
"For me, it is all about saving lives and that is exactly what these two small charities do – they are simply incredible."
As well as raising money for charity, Lenny also handed over his £170 boots to a homeless person at the start of his journey, saying he no longer had room for them.
Adams' Grammar will be holding a mufti day later this week to raise further funds.
* For more information or to donate to the cause, visit justgiving.com/teams/romanroad
