A FUNDRAISER who has walked every day for the last 12 months to raise money for refugees has spoken after completing his challenge last week.

Ray Milne, 62, walked 5km every day during the week and 10km on each day of the weekend for a year to support refugees from both Afghanistan and Ukraine.

Ray, who is originally from Scotland and now lives in Huddersfield, finished his gruelling challenge – which was on behalf on Horton Housing Association, on Little Horton Lane, where he is a board member – at Bradford’s City Hall on Friday.

He has now raised over £1,800 and is hoping for more donations to help meet his £5,000 target.

“I feel fantastic and on top of the world to have completed the challenge”, said Ray, who works in life insurance and pensions.

“It’s critical to support refugees, if there’s anybody who needs support at the moment, it’s them.

“We’ve already got Ukrainian refugees arriving in Bradford and Horton Housing Association has already been supporting Afghan refugees for a few years.

“Horton looks after various groups of disadvantaged people in Bradford, as well as across West and North Yorkshire.”

Despite completing his challenge, Ray said he is not ready to hang up his walking boots just yet.

“I celebrated by doing a 15km walk on Sunday – it was amazing”, he said.

“For the next few weeks, I’ll be walking for leisure, but I am thinking about doing more fundraising attempts.”

During the course of his challenge, Ray did not take a day off – even getting out on Christmas day.

He added that it did prove difficult at times.

“Walking in the winter mornings and getting up for walks in the dark was tough, especially when it was chucking it down”, he said.

“But it was particularly important to get out during lockdown – that’s why I started. The only thing you could do to get out of the house was to go for a walk.

“My advice to people wanting to do the same would be to start small. I’d look for anything off-road – try and find those hidden gems and take advantage.

“There’s no harm in thinking about doing fundraising as well.

“It’s extremely satisfying to help people in need, and I’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who has donated.

“If anybody would like to help me get to my target, that would be fantastic, even if they donate just a few pounds.”

Ray’s fundraising page can be found here.