Pupils and staff from Orchard Head Junior, Infant and Nursery School held a fundraising event to raise money and awareness for Motor Neurone Disease Association. The school community have walked 15 miles over the last 3 weeks (a mile a day) and yesterday held an event for the final 16th mile.
The reason for walking 16 miles was due to this being the distance between Orchard Head School and Headingley Stadium, where Rob Burrow, a parent of the school and local sporting legend, spent most of his rugby career.
Rob Burrow MBE was diagnosed with MND in December 2019 and it felt only fitting that the school gave something back to the MND community.
The school was joined for the final mile by special guests Ronnie the Rhino, mascot for Leeds Rhino’s, Kevin Sinfield OBE, former Leeds Rhino’s captain and Rob Burrow MBE himself.
Mr Joe Mitchell, Headteacher at Orchard Head Junior, Infant & Nursery School said: “We are absolutely thrilled that we’ve been able to host such a brilliant challenge for all of our school community to get involved with, to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The charity is very close to our hearts at Orchard Head, and it only felt right that we made the challenge associated with Rob’s time at Leeds Rhinos. We know times are extremely hard right now, but it’s amazing to see how people are coming together to fundraise and support. The pupils at Orchard Head Junior, Infant and Nursery School have walked the miles come rain or shine they are delighted to be finishing the challenge today. The atmosphere at the event has been brilliant. It’s the least we can do for such a fabulous family.”
Macy Burrow, Rob’s daughter who attends the school said: “We’ve walked 16 miles in 16 days, we walked a mile a day around our school field.” And when asked if the challenge was hard, she responded, “It was harder on rainy days, but we still did it.”
Macy went on to talk about Kevin Sinfield’s upcoming challenge, the ultra 7 in 7, where he will run 60km per day for seven days from Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh to Old Trafford in Manchester. Macy said: “I’m speechless; to do 7 ultras in 7 days is amazing. I can’t even walk a marathon in 7 days”.
The total amount raised by the school is still climbing and is already at over £3k. If you’d like to donate, please follow this link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/orchard-head-walk-for-rob