Parents in charity trek in memory of Alex Pickering (From York Press)

Parents in charity trek in memory of Alex Pickering

8:31am Monday 22nd March 2010 in

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PARENTS of a York teenager who was tragically killed in a car accident are set to embark on a 125-mile sponsored walk in her memory.

Alex Pickering died in September 2007 when the car she was a passenger in left the road and hit a tree in Scarborough. Two-and-a-half years on, her parents, John and Jill Pickering, want to keep their daughter’s memory alive.

In May, they will set off on a nine-day walk between their home in Acomb and Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District.

They aim to raise funds for the road safety charity Brake and the children’s charity, NSPCC, which was chosen by pupils and staff at Carr Infant School, in Acomb, York, where Alex worked as a trainee teaching assistant.

John, 58, whose wife is a democracy officer for City of York Council, said: “Alex absolutely loved children and she would be really pleased we’re raising money for the NSPCC.

“We also wanted to do something to help prevent future road accidents and Brake does a lot of work educating young people about road safety, as well as supporting families of road crash victims.”

John, a property surveyor for Finning UK, said they were still struggling to come to terms with Alex’s death.

“We miss her a lot,” he said. “We miss her just being there and seeing her grow up and we’re always wondering what she would have been doing now.

“We love travelling and went to Cuba last year, but even doing things like that you’re still thinking about Alex and it takes the edge off things.”

He said they were looking forward to the walk, which will pass along the Ebor Way and Dales Way, and had already started to get in training.

“It was Jill’s idea to do something,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure Alex had not been forgotten and this is a way we can remember her and keep her name going.”

To sponsor John and Jill, log on to their online fundraising pages – justgiving.com/alexpickeringnspcc and justgiving.com/alexpickeringbrake