Star trekkers put best feet forward for former Ilkley schoolgirl, Bel (From Wharfedale Observer)
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Star trekkers put best feet forward for former Ilkley schoolgirl, Bel
9:00am Tuesday 18th September 2012 in Local news
By Jonathan Redhead, Ilkley/Otley Reporter
Bel Young (in her wheelchair) with some of the women who took part in the Boots on For Bel fundraising walk
Dozens of women got their walking boots on to help raise vital funds for a girl left paralysed by a climbing frame accident.
The women completed the first of three challenges with a 20-mile circular walk around Harrogate as part of the Boots on for Bel campaign, which is hoping to raise money for the Being Bel Trust.
The organisation is paying for the care and rehabilitation of former Ilkley schoolgirl Bel Young.
The 11-year-old spent months being treated at Leeds General Infirmary after falling from a climbing frame in a neighbour’s garden in 2010 and breaking her neck, before gradually being allowed to return home near Harrogate several days a week.
The accident left Bel, who attended Moorfield School at the time of the accident, quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator for her breathing.
Sophie Eddleston, a mum-of-four from Coniston Cold, near Gargrave, is behind the three-part Boots on for Bel challenge.
It started with the circular walk and will be followed by tackling the three Yorkshire peaks of Pen-y-Ghent, Whern-side and Ingleborough in a day next year, with the climax involving scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa a few months later.
Mrs Eddleston said funds are still being counted from Sunday’s walk, but the challenge got off to a fine start.
“It was a great day,” she said.
“Everybody was on good form and completed the walk, and the weather was very kind.”
Visit beingbeltrust.org.uk for further information.
