Two women from Dartmouth are walking 60miles in six days to raise money for Rowcroft.

Elaine Addey, 60, and Julie Elliott, 59, will pass eight of the hospice’s 15 shops.

They begin the walk at Rowcroft’s shop in Totnes. Their route will take them to Ashburton and on to Bovey Tracey, Newton Abbot, Teignmouth, Torquay and Churston before finishing in Brixham.

Elaine explained: “Julie suggested we do a sponsored walk to celebrate our 60th birthdays and we decided to raise money for Rowcroft because we both know people who have had to use the hospice.

“Over the years it’s a charity that everybody we know, at some point, has been touched by and it’s close to our hearts.”

She added “The caring aspect of all hospices is amazing. My brother-in-law was cared for at Rowcroft and everybody was just so kind and patient. They let me go in with the dog I had at the time because Alan was so fond of the dog, there were volunteers coming round with cakes, it was just…nice.”

Rowcroft announced last July it was launching an urgent fundraising appeal as it was struggling to maintain current levels of care to local families, due to an increase in demand for its services and a shortfall in legacy income.

To avoid closure, the hospice was forced to make a number of cuts to services. It launched an urgent fundraising appeal to raise an additional £585,000 by the end of March 2017.

Thanks to the incredible efforts of the local community the hospice recently announced it had raised £500,000 of its target.

Finance and Commercial Director, Jon Hill, explained: “We are delighted to be so close to reaching our Urgent Appeal target, which is entirely thanks to the amazing response and incredible support of our local community.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to all the people just like Elaine and Julie who are going to such efforts to raise money for Rowcroft and the thousands of local families we care for every year.”

While Rowcroft’s urgent appeal is raising money for this current financial year, the next beginning April 1, 2017 will also be crucial for the hospice.

To find out more about Rowcroft’s urgent fundraising appeal and make a monthly or one-off donation visit www.rowcrofthospice.org.uk/appeal.