Parents Against Grooming UK walk from Rotherham to Rochdale raises £2,000

Members of Parents Against Grooming UK

The Parents Against Grooming UK walk from Rotherham and Halifax to Rochdale to raise awareness and demand justice for victims of the town’s grooming scandal has raised around £2,000.

Proceeds will go to Parents Against Grooming UK, with donations to children’s hospice, Derian House, in memory of Joshua McCormack, and Moorland Children's Home.

22 people took part; three in team one (Wesi Dowd, Trevor Hayes and Mark Hughes) walking the 41 miles from Rotherham and 19 in team two walking the 17 miles from Halifax to arrive at Hollingworth Lake. It took team one around 14 hours and team two around ten.

Co-founder William Howarth said: "The walk for the three lads from Rotherham was very tough and the weather was unkind, but they trooped on through the night in torrential rain.

"My group had the weather on our side and the walk was tough but enjoyable.

"We wanted to raise awareness and show solidarity with Rotherham and Halifax and that was our aim, so as far as that's concerned, mission accomplished.

"It will be the icing on the cake when we hand cheques over to Derian House and Moorlands Children's Home in the coming weeks.

"We were received well by all, especially in Hebden Bridge and we got a round of applause in Todmorden."

They were met at Hollingworth Lake by a third team with a tombola, t-shirts, raffles and face painting, plus a table of charity donation buckets and leaflets about CSE.

Parents Against Grooming UK was set up in 2012 after the founders had direct dealings with or knew parents whose children had been involved with grooming or had been approached.

The group is calling for a full scale, ‘transparent and independent’ inquiry into the grooming scandal to support the victims and hold people in position at the time accountable

The group has also been gathering signatures across the borough, having sent out 5,000 sheets to support their request for a ‘Hillsborough-style’ inquiry into the sex grooming scandal that took place in Rochdale in 2012. Each sheet can hold up to 100 signatures.