Derbyshire boy's 30-mile walk buys toys and food for families in need at Christmas

George Briggs walked 30 miles to raise enough money to buy toys and edible produce for the Salvation Army in Ripley and Oscari food bank in Riddings. He also donated £90 each to the good causes from the £350 proceeds he collected through sponsorship.

His mum Nikita, of Somercotes Hill, Somercotes said: “I am really proud of him. He is such a lovely boy, so kind and caring. He doesn’t overly love exercise but he’ll do it if it’s fun.”

Nikita, who works in catering, has been donating toys to the Salvation Army since 2017 and has previously supported Oscari with food donations. She said that George had asked whether he could help her with donations this year. Nikita said: “I asked him what he was going to do to make it better and he said ‘what if we do a sponsored something?’ We came up with the idea and we went from there.”

The original plan was to walk a mile a day in November. However, George, who is a pupil at Riddings Junior School, does football training twice a week and plays on Saturdays as well as taking part in an after-school cycling club once a week so they had to fit their walks around those activities.

Nikita said: “We had catch-up days when we would do three or four miles a day. George and all his friends went on a one and a half mile walk around Shipley Country Park and he had a three-mile walk with his younger brother, Tommy, who is five years old.

"We walked around Riddings, Somercotes and the reservoir at Ironville. We borrowed my sister's dog, a Staffy, quite a lot to encourage us.”

Nikita said: “The best thing was when we dropped off the donations. The people who George was giving them to said he was incredible and other really nice things about him. He came out and he said: ‘Mummy, I feel really proud of doing this and helping all those children and families.”

George is the eldest of Nikita and husband Andrew’s three sons and is also big brother to Freddie, who is 20 months old.