MORE than two dozen people took part in a marathon walk to raise thousands of pounds for stillbirth and neo-natal charities.

The 27 women and three men, some of whom have experience of child loss, set off from York Hospital at 9am on Saturday and walked 28.2 miles to The Royal Oak pub in Helmsley, finishing in between eight hours and 11 minutes and 10 hours 40 minutes.

Natasha Poulton, 33, of Haxby, lost her son at 20 weeks and took part in the walk to raise money for a new bereavement suite at York Hospital.

She said: "The lady who organised the event, Annika Dowson, lost her baby girl ‘Gypsy’ at 39 weeks and three days, and this walk was to mark the 10 year anniversary of her death.

"I lost my baby boy last year in November and so wanted to do something in his honour so I decided to do the walk."

Natasha said the walk was "a crazy long way, but worth every sore muscle and blister - of which we all have many".

She has raised more than £1,300 for the new suite, while others taking part in the walk raised money for charities including SANDS.

Natasha said: "Having had to give birth in the bereavement suite, it is so much better than being on a labour ward. To have that suite at York Hospital really did mean the world to my husband and I. If I can help to make someone else's life a little bit easier then I would do anything I possibly could to.

"Everyone asks me how I am but don't ask my husband how he is and it's actually kind of frustrating that that happens so it was actually nice to have some men take part with us."

Although Natasha had trained with 15-mile practice walks, she was nervous about the event itself, and said she found it "very, very hard", but "a really good event", and was always thinking about the reason for the challenge and the thousands raised on the day.

She said: "It sounds like a drop in the ocean because we need to raise thousands for the new bereavement suite to be built, but literally every penny counts and if it wasn't for the charity events people do, it just wouldn't happen."

Donations can still be made to Natasha's fundraising site at justgiving.com/fundraising/natasha-poulton or to the group at justgiving.com/fundraising/gypsy10years