A SELBY worm farmer is preparing for a charity run to raise money for a national diabetes charity.

Christopher Holgreaves, from Long Drax, runs willworms.co.uk from the village, and has previously taken part in races to raise money for various charities.

Next month, Christopher will run the Hull 10k in support of his teenage neighbour Laura Schofield, who was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of ten.

Christopher, 27, said: “I’ve known Laura and her mum, Penny, since they moved in a few years ago. We got chatting and I said if you ever want me to do some fundraising or a race for the cause, I’d be happy to do it.

“I ran the Edinburgh marathon last year for the lifeboats, and since then I’ve been so busy with work it has been hard to keep up with training, but I’m looking forward to it. I went out for a four-and-a-half mile run this week, the first run in about two months, so I’ve only got another couple of miles to go. I’m still aiming to get a good time.”

Penny, began to worry about her daughter after she lost a lot of weight and was constantly tired, symptoms initially dismissed as anorexia by her doctor, but which turned out to be diabetes. Penny, who is a teaching assistant at Laura’s school, said: “We are so grateful to Chris for offering to take part in this event. As he has such a busy schedule I have agreed to organise the fundraising and do the paperwork for the run.”

Christopher’s parents were originally farmers and diversified into breeding worms for composting, then into breeding worms for bait. Christopher works for the family business. To sponsor Christopher, visit www.justgiving.com/Laurajayne14