A GROUP of restaurant and hotel staff from the Black Country will be putting on their best fancy dress as they walk 20 miles for charity.

Staff from a number of the area’s Whitbread companies will be taking on an eight hour trek next Saturday (July 25) 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 London-based charity within his role at the Birmingham Street pub, and has now roped in a number of his Black Country colleagues to join him on the walk.

He said: “I’ve already raised quite a large amount for GOSH, through a Jack Daniels auction, as well as a cocktail evening and our weekly Tuesday quiz night.

“I’ve done the walk before and it is a very tough one, but it’s always good to know you’re doing something worthwhile for a very worthy cause.

“I have a 14-month-old son and having a small child makes the work GOSH does very close to my heart.

“I also have friends who had children in there, so I know how much the hospital means to so many people for the brilliant work they do.”

The 20-mile route starts at 10am at The Lakeside Brewers Fayre, in Oldbury, before heading to the Bluebrick in Wolverhampton – via Dudley's Premier Inn.

The walk will head back into Dudley borough towards the finish line at Stourbridge Brewers Fayre, by the way of The Kingswinford Beefeater Grill.

Neil added: “We’re all going to be doing it in fancy dress. I think I’m being dressed up as a gnome and will be pushing a wheelbarrow around in a bid to get people to just chuck their cash in.

“We did set an original target of £1,000, but we have already raised more than that, so now we are just hoping to raise as much as possible.

“We do have members of the public walking with us, and if anyone else would like to join all they need to is meet us at The Lakeside at 9.30am – with a £50 donation.”

For more information, call Neil on 01562 544146 or 07599 774918, or to donate towards the walk online visit www.justgiving.com/neilwoodallgosh