TWO local schools - Ilkley Grammar School and Addingham Primary School - have been raising funds for Jaime Lunn who suffered a life changing spinal injury last April, which left him paralysed. Collectively they have raised over £6,500.

Jaime’s children, Florence and Seth, attend Addingham Primary School and so the children and staff wanted to organise a fundraising event to help this important cause.

During the last two weeks in February, the children and staff walked 4,913 miles or 11,791,200 steps, which is the equivalent of walking to Lapland and back.

Headteacher Miss Hilary Cave said: “Everyone really enjoyed stepping to Santa and back to support Jaime’s Journey and as a school together we raised £2,978. This is a huge amount of money and I’d personally like to thank all of the children, families and staff for taking part in the fundraiser, for stepping out each day, showing their support for this brilliant cause.”

Additionally, Florence completed her own sponsored bike ride around the school grounds raising £240.10 for Jaime’s Journey and Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association, who helped her dad following his biking accident on Ilkley Moor. The children were asked to pay 50p to guess how many laps of the grounds she could cycle in 15 minutes with the winners receiving an Easter Egg and all children were given a lolly pop as a thank you from Flo for taking part.

During the most recent lockdown and school closures due to coronavirus, Ilkley Grammar School embarked on a sponsored challenge to walk a virtual journey around the world to raise money for Jaime’s Journey.

Organiser of the challenge, PE teacher Matt Carr said: “It was really important in the middle of the protracted school closure to give the pupils a challenge, not only to get them physically active but also reduce their screen-time and benefit their mental well-being.”

The challenge started during February half-term and ended on Friday, March 5. Aimed largely at Key Stage 3, every pupil in Year 7, 8 and 9 was encouraged to count their daily steps, and submit them to Mr Carr every three days. The route pupils took around the world was just short of 80 million steps and was achieved by pupils totalling an average of 6,000 steps (approximately 4km or 2.5 miles) per day. Students were supplied with helpful tips and some suggested routes around local areas they may wish to try.

The virtual walk was able to be tracked via a link with regular updates about where in the world they were and some fun facts about the countries visited.

Head teacher Mrs Carly Purnell said she was really proud of the collective achievement to walk around the world and the positive difference IGS students were making to support a local family. She gave a special mention to Niamh Brewis and Lucy Sheldon in Year 7 for walking a marathon around the local area in less than nine hours and Isabella Wormald, also in Year 7, for walking 19 miles in one day.

Mr Carr added: “IGS staff also took part in a virtual quiz to further add to the sponsor money raised by pupils. The grand total raised to support Jaime’s Journey was an incredible £3,324.21. Thank you to everyone who supported it.”

Jaime’s Journey continue to raise money for the adaption of Jaime’s home and vital equipment. Collection tins can be found at La Stazione in Ilkley, Addingham Sandwich Shop and Addingham Newsagents or at JustGiving:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jaimesjourney?utm_term=WmQM5wKkg