Haywards Heath pensioner, 72, runs 72 miles to help 72 kids go to school in Ghana

Melvyn Walmsley said his goal is to help 72 children attend school in north-eastern Ghana through the Haywards Heath-based children’s charity Lovey Foundation (UK).

This organisation provides children of subsistence farmers in the Bawku Municipal District with the uniforms and equipment they need for a primary school education.

Melvyn began his mission on Saturday, February 18, and people can sponsor him at www.peoplesfundraising.com/fundraising/melvyn-72miles-72. People can also post a cheque – payable to Lovey Foundation (UK), marked on the back ‘72 miles at 72’ – to Lovey Foundation (UK), Flat 4 Francislea, Colwell Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 4EL.

Melvyn said: “I turned 72 in December and my New Year’s resolution was to run 72 miles in Haywards Heath between my mother’s birthday, February 18, and my father’s, March 18. They both died aged 72. I’m running mostly alone, from my home, but also at the town’s Saturday morning Clair Parkruns.”

Melvyn said he became a Lovey Foundation (UK) trustee because his father passed his grammar school entrance exams in the 1920s but was not able to attend because his parents could not afford the uniform.

He said: “When Dr Yaa Asare – she is now our secretary – was lecturing in Ghana in 2012, she met Aruk Thomas Lateef, an enterprising student from Bawku Municipal District in the Upper East Region, where many children break stones for sale, chop firewood and mind livestock instead of going to school. Thomas had not been able to access education until he was a teenager, and he launched the Lovey Save Child Workers Foundation in Bawku to change that situation, which still affects many rural children there.”

Melvyn said Dr Asare helped set up Lovey Foundation (UK) when she returned to Brighton with support from the Church of the Good Shepherd. It became a registered charity in 2020.

He added: “We estimate our costs per child this year will be at least £72. With my sponsors’ help I aim to raise £72 for each of the 72 miles I run – a child’s life changed per mile. So my target is £5,148 including Gift Aid.”

UK taxpayers can complete and enclose the foundation’s Gift Aid declaration form with their cheques. Email [email protected] for a form.