A 15-MONTH-OLD boy from Cumbria has raised nearly £250 for a Bournemouth charity after walked 1,500 metres in five days.

Having been inspired by the feats of Colonel Tom Moore, Henry ‘Hennie’ Lew, who has learnt how to walk during the lockdown period, has been raising money for The Isabel Baker Foundation, a charity set up in memory of the baby from Bournemouth who lost her life to Leukaemia eight days after her first birthday.

Having previously donated money to NHS charities, Hennies parents wanted to raise money for a small charity which they had a personal connection to but has been suffering due to lack of funding during the current Covid-19 outbreak.

Paul Lew, Henry’s dad, said: “Henry and Isabel are roughly the same age, so the charity really resonated with us.

“Everyone has been donating to NHS charities, we have done it as well for our local hospital, but we wanted to find a small charity that didn’t have a lot of support and one we as a family could relate to.

“We found The Isabel Baker Foundation and it really struck a chord with us. Isabel’s family have been through something we would hate to go through, so we wanted to do something to help them.”

Having started the challenge on the morning of Monday April 27, the one-year-old clocked up a kilometre and a half in five days, completing his challenge with a 200-metre walk on Friday May 1.

Paul set up a crowdfunding page for the charity and aimed to raise £50 for The Isabel Baker Foundation, which they smashed within the same day

Since then, the money raised has reached nearly five times their target amount.

Paul added: “We are absolutely shattered but Hennie loves it. We do it in the mornings, so he wakes up, has breakfast and then gets changes and heads out for his walk.

“From day two he has been crawling down the stairs and picking up his shoes in expectation of going out for his walk. He now knows the route we do for our walk.

“They are just a lovely bunch of people and if we ever go on holiday to the south coast, we would love to meet up with them.”

Having had to close their recently opened charity shop charity in Purewell and cancel all their upcoming events, including their annual gold ball, The Isabel Baker Foundation, like many small charities across Dorset, have struggled during the lockdown.

Charity founder and Isabel’s mother Vicky Turner said: “This has hugely impacted our ability to raise the vital funds needed to help families of children with cancer, at a time when they greatly need our support.

“We have been very fortunate to receive a grant from the Talbot Village Trust providing us with funds to help families during this time.

“We are especially grateful to little Hennie, taking his first steps to raise money for our charity and raise lots of awareness in the process.

“This will make a huge difference and we greatly appreciate the family supporting us during this difficult time.”

To donate to Henry's walking fundraiser, click here.