Pair of friends set to kayak 150km in Wales for charity fundraiser

Liam Lewis, 37, works in emergency services in Clacton and Debbie Callery, 49, of Holland-on-Sea currently cares for her elderly mother and her daughter who has Down’s Syndrome.

Debbie and Liam intend to paddle their kayaks more than 150km to raise money for the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and Care of Police Survivors charities.

Family - Debbie and daughter Jessica all smiles

The two will travel by car to Glasbury in Wales then kayak down the River Wye.

Debbie got into kayaking as a teenager before stopping until four years ago when she picked it up again.

She said: “A friend of mine I knew got me back into it. I met Liam on the water, started after me and got into kayaking through his wife.

“We are looking to average about 20km a day on the trip which shouldn’t be too bad as we’re going with the river and not against it.”

Liam and Debbie have personal connections to the charities they are raising money for.

Prepared - Liam training in his Aquaglide Navarro kayak

Debbie’s daughter Jessica, 25, had a major stomach surgery when she was six-weeks-old, serious heart surgery at 12 weeks and is now tube fed.

She wants to support Great Ormond Street Hospital because of the work they do to help all children with complex medical needs.

Liam supports Care of Police Survivors because of his role in emergency services and would like to help them as much as possible.

He said: “Care of Police Survivors’ main focus is to support families through counselling, monetarily and other means.

“It’s a fantastic charity, we’ve been in contact with them and they’ve agreed to print some shirts with their logo and our names on them.”

The pair will start their journey on July 3 and expect to finish between the July 10 and 12.

For more information and to support Debbie and Liam visit bit.ly/3KM3Mbd and bit.ly/35WVO02.