A CHARITABLE woman will be pacing her way through the city as part of a 100-mile round trip to raise cash for women in Afghanistan.

Cath Greenlees will be walking the Three Choirs Way between the cathedral cities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester for Christian Aid.

The 69-year-old, of Longton, near Preston, will be setting off from Gloucester Cathedral today and plans to reach Hereford on Wednesday and Worcester on Sunday, before doubling back to Gloucester through Malvern by Wednesday, August 21.

Mrs Greenlees said: “This will be the ninth sponsored walk I have done for Christian Aid. “The first was in 1997 following a visit which I made to Uganda with a Christian Aid supporters’ group to visit educational, medical and agricultural projects there. Seeing these projects and the benefits which they were bringing to the people were largely the motivation for the first walk – although I was involved with Christian Aid before then.”

On this latest challenge, there will be friends and family joining the retired teacher on different stretches of her walk, but she is the only person completing the entire trip as her previous walking partner passed away.

“The first six walks were with my husband, Cliff, and after he died in 2008, I felt that I should like to continue,” she said.

Most of the money raised will go to Christian Aid to support women and girls in Afghanistan, where less than 13 per cent of women are literate and where there is the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. The Longton area Christian Aid Committee is looking to raise £5,000 towards the Christian Aid Partnership Scheme in the country. The money will then be increased by the European Commission to £20,000.

A proportion of the sponsor money will also go towards other small development charities with which Mrs Greenlees has personal contacts and also to Traidcraft Exchange – the UK’s only development charity specialising in making trade work for the poor.

To sponsor Mrs Greenlees on her challenge, visit virginmoneygiving.com/CathGreenlees, or for more information, contact her directly on 01772 613500, 07776 363059, or e-mail cathgreenlees@hotmail.co.uk.