A GROUP of restaurant and hotel staff from the Black Country will be putting their best foot forwards as they take on a 26 mile walk-a-thon for charity.

Staff from the area’s Whitbread companies will be taking on the trek, which sees the group walk from Stourbridge to Birmingham and back, tomorrow (Saturday, August 27) to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Neil Woodall, duty manager at Stourbridge Brewers Fayre, organises a number of fundraising events for the charity within his role at the Birmingham Street pub.

He said: “It's going to be a tough, but fun day walking 26 miles to Birmingham and back, but it really is for a good cause.

“Whitbread have pledged to raise £7.5 million to help fund the construction of the Premier Inn Clinical Building, which is a brand-new building joined on to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London and is due to open in 2017.

“I've had the pleasure of visiting the site on two occasions and seen directly the benefits of what the new building will mean to both the children and the team at GOSH and this is the motivation for me to make this ‘walk-a-thon’ a success.”

The walkers will start their 26-mile trek at 9.30am from outside the Stourbridge Brewers Fayre pub, but Neil is urging Stourbridge folk to join in.

Neil added: “Just like last year we have other sites getting involved, but I would also like to see Stourbridge residents getting involved and coming out with us to raise as much money as we can for the great cause.”

For more information, or to take part in the walk, call Neil on 01562 544145.