School hands over cash to the Every Heart Matters appeal following 14-mile trek

Money raised from a charity walk from Melford Hall, in Long Melford, to Nowton Park, on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds, has been handed over to the My WiSH Charity’s Every Heart Matters appeal.

It’s come following the walk by 28 pupils from the King Edward VI School, in Bury St Edmunds, with the total of £750 exceeding the expected total by over £200.

Youngsters from the school’s Melford College, aged 11 to 16, trekked the 14 miles and it was the first event of a number of initiatives being organised at the school in a bid to help raise £500,000 to complete a brand new cardiac centre at the town’s West Suffolk Hospital.

The West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is investing £5.2m in developing a state of the art cardiac suite that will provide quicker access to more treatments, but the £500,000 My WiSH Charity is hoping to raise will lead to the whole unit, which is currently fragmented on different floors, being brought together in one purpose-built centre.

Rebecca Taylor, the head of Melford College, said: “Each year the college has a charity which it supports and we decided on the Every Heart Matters appeal. All the students completed the walk from start to finish … even the 11-year-olds.

“We are really pleased with the amount of money we raised and it was also made up of £50 from the school’s Chocolate Christmas Delivery Service we operate where students pay £1.50 each to send off gifts to other students.”

If you would like to donate to the Every Heart Matters Appeal you can do so by going to Justgiving.com/ehma or text EHMA17 £10 to 70070.

Pictured above are students handing over the cheque to Sue Smith, fundraising manager for the My WiSH charity.