Pair complete 100km walk for mental health charity

Two men have completed a 100km (62 mile) walk to help support a mental health charity in their community.

Dave Southby, from Wroughton in Wiltshire, has raised £3,200 for the Kelly Foundation, which helps people get to the root causes of their mental health issues.

Working in finance at Dave Southby Financial Planning, the 31-year-old said he regularly sees clients struggling with their mental health due to money troubles.

Mr Southby, and his co-worker Neil Sawyer, completed the walk along the Thames Path in Swindon over two days.

They started on Saturday and finished at about 19.00 BSTon Sunday.

The pair chose to fundraise for the charity after they supported one of Mr Sawyer's family members through their own mental health struggles.

“Normally, you don’t really see charities helping the family as well as the individual," he said.

"So we thought what better charity to say thank you to, after helping someone so close to us."

Mr Southby and his company team are trained as mental health first aiders, and say they often work with anxious clients.

“In our line of work, we regularly encounter people grappling with financial stress which directly impacts their mental well-being,” said Mr Southby.

“By partnering with The Kelly Foundation, we hope to make a real difference in the lives of those struggling with mental health issues in our community."

Mr Southby added that like most charities, The Kelly Foundation have a waiting list. He hopes the money raised will enable them to "support more people sooner".

“We originally aimed to raise £2500, which would have enabled 125 hours of vital support, equating to 12 weeks of therapy for 10 people,” he continued.

"The extra funding has exceeded our expectations massively."

Mr Southby says he will now spend the next few days recovering, after waking up at 05:00 BST over the weekend and "hobbling" to the finish line and grappling with shin splints.

“It was a hard walk but now reflecting on it, it was an incredible achievement," he said.

"We’re very proud of the money and awareness we raised because ultimately, that’s the most important thing."

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