Mother-of-three pounding pavements to help raise money for charity

Anna Eeles, aged 50, from Halesowen, is the daughter of 74-year-old Tom Stanton, one half of the busking duo The Blue Granits, from Sandwell, who are well-known for their fundraising efforts.

However, the pandemic rules have restricted Tom and his fellow singer and songwriting artist Billy Spakemon, 69, from raising funds for charity through their busking sessions.

So Anna has decided to help the duo in their fundraising efforts by running two miles every day during March.

She hopes the money raised by her 3.2 kilometre runs will boost the money the duo hope to donate towards Prostrate Cancer and Breast Cancer care at Russells Hall Hospital.

Billy, who used to work in the language department at Aston University and who also has a show on Radio Black Country, has already joined Anna on one of her daily runs and hopes to do so again before she completes her challenge.

He said: “Through busking Tom and I have already raised more than £8,000 for the Georgina Cancer Care Unit.

“We really wanted to raise funds but because of the pandemic were at a loss as how to do this as we could not get out there. Tom’s daughter, Anna, offered to run to help our fundraising.”

Anna, an area co-ordinator with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: “The challenge is to do a total of 100 kilometres during the month of March.”

Anyone wanting to donate can do so through JustGiving.