Eight-year-old girl embarks on 105 mile walking challenge in aid of Sheffield Children’s Hospital

Eight-year-old Phoebe Green, a pupil at Mosborough Primary School, is planning to walk the same distance as four marathons by the middle of February to bring in cash for Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Like many children across the country, the young fundraiser from Halfway has missed a significant amount of school over the last year and faced some very difficult times during the pandemic particularly from a mental health point of view.

So, upon learning that schools would not reopen after the Christmas break, Phoebe decided she would challenge herself to do something positive and walk until she was allowed to return to the classroom in an effort to help other children in need.

"We’ve been fortunate enough not to need to use the Sheffield Children's hospital too much, only for a suspected broken finger,” Phoebe’s mum Nicola explained.

“However the work the hospital does is absolutely amazing and Phoebe wanted to do something to help other children who do need to use the hospital either occasionally or on a regular basis.”

When Phoebe decided on the challenge it was thought that schools would return after the February half term, albeit this has now changed.

However, she will still continue until this date and has been walking an average of three miles a day since January 10 to raise money for the charity.

Nicola, aged 44, added: “We’re just going out on an evening just the two of us and it’s great because we’re getting out and having a chat too.

"We’ve talked about all sorts; the Sheffield Children’s Hospital and what they do but she’s also been reading lots of David Walliams books so we’ve been chatting about those, particularly ‘The Midnight Gang’ which is based in a hospital and she was relating that to the children at the children’s hospital.”

Phoebe originally set out with the intention of raising just £200, but just over halfway through her walking challenge, has managed to more than double that amount – with donations to her JustGiving page now topping £520.

If you would like to donate and help add to her fundraising total, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Phoebe-Green47.

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