The towns of Leek, Biddulph and Cheadle are to be celebrated with a special fund-raising walk to raise money for the area.

The inaugural '3 Town Trail' Challenge has been launched by the community fund, We Love The Moorlands which raises money for voluntary groups across the area.

The challenge involves covering a total of 39.5 miles, the length of the route between the three Moorlands towns, under your own steam during May and June 2022. Individuals, families, or groups can decide their pace whether it be to complete the route in one day or across an entire month.

Kate Taylor from We Love The Moorlands said: "We only launched the fund last year and the response has been phenomenal. We have huge plans to help raise money for our area and the 3 Town Trail is the perfect celebration of our three towns.

"We want as many people as possible to sign up and complete the challenge and importantly raise sponsorship money. The beauty of the event is that friends and families can get involved and you can work at your own pace."

We Love The Moorlands is a new local fund that provides small grants to a wide range of projects based only across the Staffordshire Moorlands District. The fund will consider all applications for up to £500 from local groups in need twice a year.

Companies and individuals are welcome to donate or fund-raise and all money is invested through a permanent endowment fund by registered charity The Community Foundation for Staffordshire on behalf of We Love The Moorlands in line with charity commission guidelines.

The interest and dividends earned on the invested money is then distributed by the We Love The Moorlands Fund as small grants across the district. The beauty of this model is that it will provide a source of on-going funding that can be used for small grants, and larger grants as the fund grows, for many years to come.

Steve Adams, Chief Executive of The Community Foundation for Staffordshire said: "After a fantastic launch of the We Love The Moorlands fund last year, the fund raising starts. We have seen so much success with Community Funds over the years across the county and country and know that the people of the Moorlands will come together and raise money for their local voluntary sector starting with the 3 Town Trail."

For those who like to track their activities online, there is a Community Foundation for Staffordshire Club with a 3 Town Trail Event on Strava where you can track the activity you do and add photos. Alternatively, if you want to take the challenge at a more leisurely pace over the month the Trail Information email will include suggested routes and a table with combinations of routes which could be used to make up the 39.5 miles, or for younger children a half route of 20 miles.

For more information and to register please click here.