TWO 16-year old girls are walking the distance of a marathon to help raise money for a care home struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Paige Bryant and Eve Masters, from Blandford, are taking on the challenge for Castleman House, where Paige’s great grandmother has lived for the past few years.

Paige said: “So when my mum told me that Castelman House was unable to hold its annual fete this year to raise money to allow them to have people come in for entertainment, or go on trips I knew I wanted to do something.

“I wanted to raise money, so they got that enjoyment and for the staff working through the pandemic.

“I was talking to Eve and we wanted to do something where we are two metres apart so we thought we would walk a marathon.”

Paige said she predicted the marathon would take them eight to 10 hours and she has been keeping fit by running five kilometres a day during the lockdown.

The pair initially set a fundraising target of £200 and at the time of writing they were nearly at £1,000.

Speaking on not being able to see her great grandmother, Paige said: “It’s been quite hard.

“I have been doing my GCSEs and I missed out on sitting my exams.

“I just wanted to do something so the residents don’t miss out on something.

“They enjoy all the entertainment.

“I have only spoken to my nan through the phone and it has been quite hard.”

Cerys BirtWell, duty manager at Castleman House, said: “Normally we do a lot of fundraising for our residents.

“Due to Covid-19, we have not been able to do any fundraising.

“The money the girls have raised will go towards trips out when we get back to normality.

“Without these girls’ fundraising we would not have any spare money to do these things.

“We are so grateful to them to go out and do something like this.

“Being young girls as well it is amazing they wanted to do something like this.”

Castleman House offers accommodation for 48 clients.

It is divided into four 10-bedroomed cottages and one eight-bedroomed cottage

There is a large, central communal lounge and various smaller seating areas.

There is also access to extensive garden areas.Visit gofundme.com/f/girls-walk-262-miles-for-castleman-house to donate to the challenge.