East Lancashire Hospice

Chop chop! Butcher aims to climb 3 peaks in under 12 hours

A butcher from Oswaldtwistle is swapping his meat cleaver for walking boots to complete a charity challenge.

John Whittaker, 61 who owns Whittaker’s Butchers is taking on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge to raise funds for East Lancashire Hospice. The business in Union Road has raised in excess of £16,500 and this is the latest challenge that one of the team is undertaking.

Staff from the butchers, which has been trading for 38 years all contribute to raising the funds by holding barbecues and selling jam made by the mother of one of the team of butchers.

Training is underway for John who has been walking up Pendle Hill for the last 2 months in preparation for the 26-mile challenge on May 1.

The challenge element of the walk is completing it in under 12 hours. Those who scale Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough within the time are invited to pay to join the Pen-y-ghent cafe's privately owned 'Three Peaks of Yorkshire Club'.

John signed up to the 3 Peaks when a group of his friends decided to tackle the walk, each person raising money for a charity special to them. John picked East Lancashire Hospice who have been the butchers’ chosen charity for the past 8 years and said they’ve managed to raise so much because the team of staff work together.

“Our fundraising has been successful because we’re all one team. Customers like to come in for a chat and they’ve been generous with their donations too. I’m looking forward to the finish the most. We’re staying over so I’m sure we’ll be having a slurp of beer to celebrate after.”

Anyone wishing to make a donation is welcome to call into the Union Road shop. Walkers who are interested in completing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks to raise hospice funds can call the fundraising department on 01254 287012.

CAPTION: Butcher Andrew Hughes (l) encourages customers to dig deep and add to their total held up by John Whittaker (r).

 

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