Veteran fundraiser Alan, 82, on the march again

Two years ago, Alan Jones-Bratt raised £6,000 after completing a gruelling challenge which involved four 20-mile walks, the completion 80 ends of both indoor and outdoor bowls and 81 holes of golf.

He thought that effort marked the end of his fundraising career, but the sudden death of his wife Mary, and the deterioration of his eyesight with a macular degenerative condition, spurred him into another effort.

And in August this year, a month before he celebrates his 82nd birthday, the veteran fundraiser will embark on a 50-mile walk around five separate parks in aid of Thrombosis UK and Asthma Relief.

Alan, originally from West Bromwich but now living in Stafford, is no stranger to fundraising. Back in the 80s and 90s he did several epic charity treks with his late brother Don, including the 1,000-mile Wolverhampton Millennium Walk.

"It is a legacy to my late wife Mary who was an asthma sufferer for over 50 years," he said.

"She died very suddenly and unexpectedly of pulmonary embolism, a blood clot on the lungs. Her passing has totally devastated my life since."

He will start on August 12 around the perimeter of Windsor Great Park; the following day around Hyde Park; on August 15 at Sutton Park; in Dartmouth Park, West Bromwich the next day and ending in Cannock Chase on April 17.

"It's 50 miles in five days, in five different parks," he said, adding that he would be setting up a page on the Just Giving website for people to make donations.

"I thought the one I did two years ago would be my last," he said. 2But I've had a dreadful 15 months, losing my wife unexpectedly, and suffering the macular degeneration which has affected my eyesight, and for which there is no known cure.

"I have had to give up driving, and I decided to give my life a sense of purpose to stop me being sorry for myself all the time."