LOCAL resident and Dousland parish councillor has been using lockdown to raise money for St Luke’s Hospice again — with a 200 mile walk around his local golf course.

Roger Mechan appeared in the Times four years ago when he completed a solo charity trek across the pilgrim trails of Europe to raise funds for the hospice and Help for Heroes. At that time he had just finished walking from Bath Abbey to Westminster Abbey completing 2,300 miles of trekking while raising £33,000. And since then the 73-year-old retired policeman has added another 300 miles to his chart including walking around the Isle of Man and across northern Spain while raising donations to date of £56,456.

This year, he decided on his golf course walk after his plans to walk the Cotswold Way but due to Covid-19 were cancelled.

Roger, pictured above, said: ‘I was determined to do something to continue raising money but I really had no idea what as I could no longer give after-lunch talks or conduct bucket collections. ‘I contemplated walking across Dartmoor from Exeter to Plymouth and back but, apart from breaking lockdown rules, could have been somewhat dangerous as a pedestrian on the road over the moor. My local golf course is at Yelverton and I realised that was where the answer lay.

‘I worked out that one circuit of the course perimeter was around four miles so when we were allowed to take unfettered exercise I set off to walk around it fifty times — a total distance of 200 miles. It took me ten days and I saw parts of the course I rarely visited when playing, such as the fairways.

‘It also meant I could spend the nights at home and did not have to raid the housekeeping to pay for hostels, while encouraging online donations for St Luke’s. The weather was kind, the views special and the Dartmoor ponies and Belted Galloway’s excellent company.’

To support St Luke’s Hospice, visit Roger’s fundraising page www.justgiving.com/stlukespilgrim