Join Bedford barber Ricky for 24-hour walk for mental health charity
Barber Ricky Cataldo will be swapping scissors for hiking boots when he takes on a 24-hour charity walk in aid of mental health charity MIND.
Ricky will be taking on the challenge on July 19 completing the 24-hour walk with laps of the RSPB Lodge in Sandy.
But Ricky is hoping the event will not only attract sponsorship but encourage people to put their best foot forward and join him for a lap or two on the day.
Ricky, who is from Bedford but now lives in Sandy with his partner, explained he decided to do the walk to support a charity close to his heart.
He said: “I’m raising money for MIND, a charity close to my heart having faced my own battles with mental health and having lost multiple friends and family members to mental health issues.
"I fully understand and appreciate the value this charity provides and want to break down any barriers I can to do with talking about mental health.
"I talk with people about it on my mental health hikes walking group and talk about mental health whenever I can, with whoever I can.”
"I'm completing my walk at the RSPB Lodge in Sandy doing laps of the boundary trail so people can join me for a lap here and there.”
Ricky, who is 28 and works at Diman Barbers in Wootton, has set up a fundraiser which has already raised more than half his £2k target amount.
He added: "I'm doing the whole 24 hours around the RSPB for the simple 5km route which allows people to join me for a lap here. The RSPB have been incredibly supportive providing toilets to be available for the 24hrs for me.
“I look forward to chatting with people as we go and smashing this out for an amazing cause, so any donations would be amazing. Let's do something great together.”
Ricky’s mental health hiking group has just completed its first trip to the Peak District with the next one planned for July 5 at Dunstable Downs.
You can sponsor Ricky on his JustGiving fundraiser page.