TWO friends are planning to walk 100km to help raise £100,000 to mark the 100th birthday of a well-used village hall.

Linda Johnston (49) and Laura Hall (40) have challenged themselves to walk more than 60 miles in two days to support Slaley Commemoration Hall’s ongoing £100k for 100 years campaign.

Both live within the parish of Slaley and regularly use the hall for functions and events. When they learned of the hall committee’s aim to raise £100,000 to improve the state of the building by the time of the hall’s 100th anniversary in 2022, they wanted to do their bit for the fund-raiser.

Linda said: “I love the hall and I spend a lot of my time there with family parties and the like, and I think a village hall is a massive asset to every village.

“We want to make sure we protect it for future generations to enjoy like we have done.

“The walk was my idea because I love walking and we thought we would make it more challenging by completing it in two days when most people do it in three days.”

The walk will start at Cresswell on Sunday, August 11, and the women will stop overnight at Embleton before recommencing the challenge and finishing at Holy Island. The plan is to walk three miles each hour for 10 hours.

Linda said: “We’re best friends and we both have two children so we’re always over each other’s houses, and we’re going to be each other’s strength when things get tough.

“It will be nice just to spend two whole days talking with each other alone as we don’t get much time for that.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor Linda and Laura can do so at www.gofundme.com/slaleyvillagehall or through forms dotted around the village.