A GROUP of friends have raised in excess of £7,000 for the charities Mind and Leeds Mind by completing the Dales Way.

Pete Healey, Dave Healey, Anil Mander and Graeme Bevington walked the 81-miles in memory of their friend Stoney who died earlier this year.

They were met by a group of Stoney's friends and family at Bolton Abbey for the final six miles, and also Matt and Chris Holmes who had cycled the road back from Bowness-on-Windermere to catch the group.

So far the justgiving page - https://www.justgiving.com/teams/3fatlads - has raised over £7,000 for Mind and Leeds Mind, with donations buckets in the Red Lion in Burley and The Flying Duck in Ilkley to collect. The Flying Duck is also supporting Leeds Mind with a specially brewed beer in memory of Stoney of which £1 of every pint sold will go to charity.

Graeme said: “It was Stoney’s idea to try and do something to benefit his own mental health and he organised the walk, and after his passing we ran with the idea to try and raise awareness regarding mental health. We would like to say a massive thank you for the significant support friends and family have provided regarding fundraising and also the impact of sharing this important message through social media.”

Pete added: “We wanted to not only to support these two fantastic charities, but also to raise awareness about mental health and to try help remove some of the social stigmas around people opening up about their feelings.”