Wing Commander David Forbes walks equivalent distance of Rochdale to Prague for charity

Wing Commander David Forbes with Mayor Billy Sheerin

Wing Commander David Forbes has walked the equivalent distance of Rochdale to Prague, after walking 731 miles over recent months in aid of charity.

The Rochdale veteran, 81, has been walking several miles each morning since March 2020, and has been using his early morning exercise as an opportunity to raise money for charities, which have missed out on so much during the year of the pandemic.

Mr Forbes, the president of the British Legion in Rochdale, decided to support the Mayor’s charity, which is supporting Rochdale Springhill Hospice, Parkinson’s UK, Rochdale Shopmobility, Leukaemia UK, Rochdale Veterans, Rochdale Heartbeat and many other local charities.

In total, he has raised just short of £500 for the cause, and smashed his original target of walking 500 miles in the first four months of this year. Donations have been made directly to the Mayoral account as well as JustGiving.

Refusing to rest on his laurels, Mr Forbes raised the bar to 650 miles – but beat this too, with a grand total of 730.9 miles covered.

Mr Forbes has covered the equivalent distance – as the crow flies – of walking from Rochdale to Prague (716 miles), and is just 3 miles short of having trekked to Munich, Germany, and Milan or Verona, both in Italy (all 734 miles away from Rochdale).

He said: “It’s great to raise money for Mayor’s charity. A lot of people been on hard times, so I’m quite happy to have raised what I have for charity.”

Donations can still be made via GoFundMe:

• www.gofundme.com/f/davids-walk-for-charity