Disabled Arun District Council chairman does 20 push-ups a day for children's charity

Amanda Worne is completing a daily, push up challenge from home during the second lockdown to raise funds for PACSO, a Chichester-based charity which supports children with disabilities.

The Yapton mum, who broke her spine in a cycling accident in 2015, has also designed her own Christmas cards, which she will sell to raise more money for the charity close to her heart.

She said: “It’s really hard to get any funding or charity work done at the moment.

“Christmas is coming and I wanted to do something.

“I saw the push up challenge that the veterans have been doing for PTSD. I’m disabled and can’t use the lower half of my body so I thought it would be a real challenge for me to try to do 20 push ups every day, for the whole length of lockdown.”

Amanda has posted videos on Facebook of her attempts and, despite the valliant efforts by her Jack Russell to upstage her with a rubber chicken toy, the councillor has raised £600.

She added: “They have been really challenging and given me chronic back ache. I’m a little bit broken but it’s been really worth it.”

Including the money from Christmas card sales, Amanda hopes to raise £1,000 in total for PACSO.

“PACSO brings children out their shells and gets them to try new things,” she said. “It gives them independence without family around them and helps them to grow. It’s a really lovely charity and a really good thing to support.”

Amanda said she hopes the money will help the charity treat the children.

"It's free money for them to put towards anything they want," she said. "The children could have an ice cream after a day out or it could got towards Christmas presents."

Looking forward, Amanda is also hoping to do a 24-hour marathon in the spring.

She added: "We will hopefully a party in the park before the end of May. A big event, with stalls and music. I have a few other ideas but it's really difficult to do anything at the moment."

To donate, please visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amanda-worne-chair-of-adc.

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