A FERMANAGH woman has just completed a 160km walk from Enniskillen to Knock, Co. Mayo, over nine days to raise funds for the Mary's Meals schools feeding programme.

Emma Gawley, from Enniskillen, who is a volunteer with the Fermanagh Mary's Meals support group, recently took part in the 'Step by Step to Feed the Next Child' sponsored walk.

She was joined at different stages of the 160km walk by family and friends, including her daughter, Keeley Gawley, Tiernagh McManus, her father Alan Gawley and Mary's Meals volunteer Carol Corrigan.

So far, Emma has raised more than £1,000 for the charity through her fundraising page, at https://tinyurl.com/3jbnbzb7.

Mary's Meals ambassador Ann Curry outlined the work of the charity. She said: "Mary’s Meals is an international, inter-denominational charity which feeds children from all over the world.

"It started with two brothers from Scotland who went out to Malawi and set this charity up. Now, they are feeding two million children a day.

"The children get fed every day for as little as 4p per day. That’s all it costs for this charity to do this. There is nobody getting big wages out of this – 93p of every pound that we raise goes directly to those children."

Ann explained that the sponsored walk to Knock started in 2013. She said: "I have been walking the road to Knock yearly now from 2013 as part of that group, and Emma got involved with me last year."

Unfortunately, due to injury, Ann couldn't take part in the walk this year. "Just a week before the walk I had a neck injury. Poor Emma decided to go on herself – that is a big, big ask of Emma!

"On her own, she carried the mantle and she made it to Knock on Sunday," she said, praising Emma's efforts.

She went on to offer her thanks on behalf of Mary's Meals to all the people who have supported Emma along the way.

"A special thanks to all the people who took the time to join Emma for some of the walk, supported her in any way or sponsored this great charity," said Ann.