A RAWTENSTALL school’s Duke of Edinburgh silver award group undertook a ‘Round the World’ challenge to raise funds for the charity Brainwave.

The group, from Alder Grange Community, Technology School and Sixth Form, chose the charity as it has dedicated therapy teams to help children with disabilities and special needs around the UK.

Brainwave has special significance for several staff members, especially teachers Kenny Riddell and his wife Michelle Gibbons who have a son with cerebral palsy and have benefitted from the charity’s work.

Using the gym equipment at the school, in Calder Road, and their Duke of Edinburgh canoeing expeditions, the pupils completed rowing the length of the Thames (346km), cycling the longest leg of the 2013 Tour De France (242km), running a marathon (42.2 km), and stepping the height of the Empire State Building (3,720 steps).

The pupils who took part in the challenge included: Emily Blackburn, Brierley Howard, Bethany Riley, Chloe Unsworth, Chloe Bentham, Jack Tierney, Joshua Rawstron, Laura Wilkinson, Simon Willetts, Jack Woods, Emma Pickup, Django Back, Khaled Ahmed, James Wooton, Adam Crowder, Tess Easton.

John Gibbons, a teacher at the school, said: “Sponsorship, together with sale of chilli plants in the school staff room, led to a total of £200 being raised and this was presented to Mr Riddell at our presentation evening.”