Last week we welcomed Peter and Heather Valentine to the trust to meet our Chair, Steve Phoenix, and Harry Walmsley, Chair of Friends of Eastbourne Hospital, and talk about Peter’s fundraising for the Friends.
Peter, who is 101 years old, has been walking from his home in Eastbourne to the hospital once a month, donating £10 to the Friends charity each time.
This is not the first time that Peter has raised money for charity. At 90 he had to give up his beloved tennis so took up swimming. Not content on just having a leisurely swim, Peter decided “there had to be a point to it” and decided that for every 100 lengths he completed he would donate some money to charity.
Then during COVID-19, Peter and Heather walked 96 miles, doing a mile at a time, sometimes more than once a day.
“I am lucky to still be so active and being able to combine this with raising money for the Friends. It gives me a huge sense of satisfaction and I will do what I can to help as long as possible.”
Steve said: “Peter and Heather are such an inspiration and certainly show the benefit of us all keeping active as we get older. We are so thankful for the money raised for the Friends of Eastbourne Hospital, the work they do is crucial to the trust and how it operates. It has been such a pleasure to meet Peter and Heather to hear about their fundraising and also their lives. What an amazing couple.”
Harry added “Peter is an incredible man and it is people like him that make the work we do with the Friends so worthwhile.”
If you would like to donate to Peter then you can do so on his Just Giving page.