FOUR members of Tenbury Town Band are supporters of the blood cancer charity, Bloodwise, and also keen walkers.

Every May for the past three years they have completed the full 23 mile walk, the longest of the Bishop's Castle Round and About Walks, in aid of Bloodwise.

This year, disastrously, the date of the walks - May 11 - clashes with the band's annual concert in the Regal Cinema, Tenbury Wells.

Andy hit on the brilliant idea of collecting for the Bishop Castle Walks at their charity Christmas concert. So, earlier this month, Lorraine handed a cheque for £1,280 to Jean, who organises the walks, as well as offering help to set up the route on the day before the big day.

Lorraine, who walks in memory of her late husband Sean, explained "The spectacular countryside around Bishop's Castle is so varied, you don't really think about the miles. While walking with friends, the lunch stop arrives quickly - not that we could linger with the last 10 miles to complete! It's great having the option of doing three distances; always a challenge, but so rewarding."

The Round and About Walks aim to give people a safe experience of beautiful, rural walks as well as to raise money for blood cancer research through Bloodwise. To have this amount of money before the walks themselves is absolutely amazing.

For details and to enter the walks visit: Bloodwise.org.uk/round-and-about

For the concert visit: regaltenbury.co.uk or call 01584 811442 or tenburytownband.co.uk