Six-year-old deals with loss of grandad by raising funds

Josh Alderton’s fundraiser saw him go from Chesworth Farm to Warnham Nature Reserve on Saturday in support of the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) lifesaving research.

Josh’s mum Jo Alderton, who organised the event, said: “We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone that supported these events. Josh took it upon himself to raise money in his grandad’s honour and we are so proud of his hardwork.”

The dedicated youngster walked practically every day during the summer holidays and took his training for the event very seriously - which paid off after he ended up raising £900 in his grandad Dougal’s memory.

Alongside this, Kung Fu Schools Horsham, which Josh attends, have been busy running their popular sponsored board break.

Head instructor, Stephen Dunsdon, heard of Josh’s planned sponsored walk and wanted to support the cause. As a result they have raised an incredible £890 bringing the grand total to £1,790.

Nicky Seevaraj, BHF fundraising manager for Sussex, said: “We are so incredibly proud of Josh and so grateful to all his family and friends who supported him and we would like to say a huge thank you.

“There are around seven million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory disease and thanks to this energetic and brave little boy and his family, we’ll be able to fund even more research into heart disease, vascular dementia, stroke and diabetes.”