Retired council boss Peter Kay has plenty of spring in his step – despite the recent snow – as he helps to raise cash for a good cause.

The 62-year-old from Nab Wood is selling copies of a book about his Pennine Way walking experience to help fund two singing groups for people with disabilities.

Grandfather Mr Kay, who was Bradford Council’s Assistant Director for Adult Services before retiring in 2009, fulfilled his long-held ambition to walk the 270-plus miles last summer and did it in 14 days – dealing with the wettest July on record and several encounters with cows and dive-bombing lapwings!

He has turned his walk diary into a book which he self-published and now money he makes from it is going towards the All Aloud singing group which meets weekly at the Little House in Bingley. And a second singing group has also sprung from it, run by Marilyn Adey, in Bradford, at the Delius Community Centre in Great Horton, called Sing From The Heart. Mr Kay’s book has now proved so popular that some people with sight problems asked if he would think about making an audio version of it – which he did.

He said: “I’d taken notes a bit like a diary while I was on the walk and with encouragement from friends and collagues decided to put it all in a book.

“It covers everything from the low-points of being knee-deep in mud to the highlights and being spurred on by seeing simple things like a butterfly and being uplifted.”

Although Mr Kay walked alone, except for a few days when he was joined by friends for some of the way, he said he also made some new friends.

“You meet people and make new friends as you walk on the way. It had been a long-held ambition of mine to do the Pennine Way and it’s even more of an achievement now knowing that it’s also helping the singing groups.”

Mr Kay, who has also run marathons for charity, is involved with a number of good causes across the district including Age UK, Bradford Curry Project and Disability Advice Bradford.

Pennine Way Odyssey is on sale for £7.99 and the audi-version is £8.99, both available from Disability Advice Bradford, Dockfield Way, Shipley or by e-mailing Mr Kay at s_m_kay51@yahoo.co.uk. About £4 from the sale of each book goes towards the upkeep of the singing groups.