Gran picks litter while walking Malvern Hills for disabled grandson

Fiona Conway, from Stitchins Hill, near Alfrick, has been raising money for five-year-old Harry Grindo, who lives in France with parents Iona and Geoffrey.

Harry has been severely disabled from birth. He suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and has to be fed through a stomach tube. His eyesight and hearing are also affected.

Fiona decided that over the 40 days of Lent, she would walk five kilometres per day, making a total distance of 200,000km.

Harry Grindo shares a cuddle with dad Geoffrey (Image: Fiona Conway)

The walk has raised £1,500, which will go some way to helping pay for a special buggy needed to allow Harry to be taken for walks, as he cannot walk unaided.

The health/social services in France do not wholly cover the cost of such items.

Fiona has managed to complete her aim and said friends and family have been very generous financially, with many turning up in the early mornings to walk the distance with her.

“I just thought it would be friends and family and it started off lowkey - but it’s been really heartwarming how people have supported it,” she said.

“I’ve been doing it for my grandson - he’s six this year and this buggy will make a massive difference, not just to him but to his parents, too.”

While completing the money-raising walks, Fiona has carried with her a ‘backpack’ in which she has collected litter from the roadways, nature reserves and other local places.

Fiona Conway collected lots of litter while on her sponsored walks (Image: Fiona Conway)

Empty drinks cans, crisp bags, chocolate wrappers and pieces of plastic were the main items of rubbish collected, but empty vodka bottles and a whole unopened plastic box of ready-prepared stir-fry vegetables had also been thrown by the wayside.

“Walking in the Worcestershire countryside should be a pleasure, but this is spoiled by lazy people not taking their litter home,” she said.

“It annoys me to see the landscape marred in this way, so I do what I can to tidy up.”

Anyone who wishes to donate to Fiona's appeal can write a cheque to Mrs I C Gindro and post it to Fiona Conway, Brookbatch Cottage, Stitchins Hill WR13 5DJ.