in pictures: Strolling Saxon charity walker gets heroes welcome in Rye

He completed the walk dressed in full armour as a Saxon warrior, complete with shield.

Gav Collins, 55, named the walk the Godwinson Challenge after King Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo Saxon king, who was killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Gav suffered spinal injuries and nerve damage down the whole left side of his body following a car crash in December 2023. He said: “I couldn’t move or feel the prodding and pocking that medical staff were doing to my left foot.”

At one point in hospital, he was told ‘you won’t walk again’. He said he taught himself how to walk again, adding: “Grit, courage and determination have always been keys words in my life. Earlier in my life I’ve also had two bouts of cancer and gone through eight months of chemotherapy. I sure as hell wasn’t going to just give up without a fight.”

He arrived in Rye and was warmly greeted at St Mary's Church Rye by Rye Mayor Cllr Chris Hoggart, The Rye Town Crier Paul Edward Goring, a representative from Rye Bonfire Society and many others.

Kt Bruce, who took these pictures, said: “It was an extraordinary challenge and he proved that determination can overcome even the greatest obstacles.”

Gav has previously completed one-day charity marathons of 26.2 miles for Uckfield and East Grinstead foodbanks and family support work. He is also an active member of both East Grinstead and Seaford Bonfire Societies.

His latest charity challenge was to raise money for Trussell Trust food banks across Sussex, as well as the Knights Foundation for the Homeless and Harbourside Gymnastics Academy in Newhaven.

Gav said: “I’m really trying to give back to the community and to inspire. We have too much ‘bad news’ in the press. Let’s just for once get some ‘good’.”

Gav added that he has worked closely with Sussex Police in planning this challenge and said he has received letters of good luck and best wishes from King Charles III and HRH Catherine Princess of Wales.