RENOWNED botanist Dr Margaret Bradshaw celebrated her 98th birthday by kickstarting a new challenge to raise more than £1,000 to highlight the decline of the dale’s rarest plants.
She aims to walk a mile a day, covering 55-miles – equivalent to the circumference of the area covered by the Teesdale Special Flora Research Conservation Trust, the charity she set up in 2017 to study the area’s under-threat plants.
She hopes to raise £1,100 in her latest challenge, dubbed Trek for Special Flora 2, which will go towards the cost of a trainee botanist who will record species in parts of the upper dale that have been little visited by botanists.
Dr Bradshaw is no stranger to fundraising challenges.
Three years ago, she raised about £4,500, trekking 88 kilometres on her pony Sigma to pay for a professional survey of plants in the River Tees catchment area.
She said: “I have been wanting someone to give me a new challenge and [fellow botany enthusiasts]David and Jane Philbrick came up with this one.
“I walk every day, so this is something I can manage.”
Dr Bradshaw set off on the first of the 55-day walks on Thursday, January 4, coinciding with her 98th birthday. She will complete one mile each day, setting off initially every day at 10am from Neamour Lane in Eggleston.
She added: “The target on the online fundraiser is to raise £550, but I hope to raise twice as much. These special plants can only be conserved if it is known where they grow.”
Dr Bradshaw was joined by a host of friends and supporters who presented her with birthday wishes, presents and donations for the challenge.
People can support the Trek for Special Flora 2 walk by visiting www.justgiving.com/teesdalespecialflora.
