An Oswestry man is calling on friends and supporters to help with his latest challenge to raise money for a suicide prevention charity.

James Manford, who works at Moreton Hall School, outside the town, will be walking the famous Offa's Dyke Path, which runs alongside the eighth century border between England and Wales, as he raises money for PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide in memory of a close friend, Sarah Powell.

James admits this latest challenge, which has arisen as he embarks on his own version of '30 before 30' – a bucket list of challenges he wants to complete – has left him feeling quite nervous, and he's hoping for support in two weeks when he returns to the area.

"It was a variation of that theme of a bucket challenge so I set myself a few challenges and a few people have added to that as well," said James.

"I'm halfway through it and I'm about to take on my next one – I'm walking and camping the Offa's Dyke Path, which is a 177-mile walk.

"This is a completely new thing to do, something I've not done before. I've marathons and other running challenges but this is quite new. I'll be going down to Chepstow, having one last night of comfort and then doing the walk.

"I'm actually quite nervous – I've been doing the planning for make sure it's right and worked out that I'm going to be doing on average 20 miles a day, though one day will be 30 miles.

"I've raised around £400 and I've set a target of £1,000. I wanted to make it similar to how much I would raise for a marathon.

"I didn't want to just do a marathon – I wanted to do something different, and I'm hoping to reach my target by March next year, my birthday.

"I'm open to doing whatever people suggest to me and they're also welcome to come and walk me with me on Friday, August 23 when I'm doing the 18/19 miles from Llanymynech to Llangollen.

"Everyone is welcome to come along and walk with me and to keep giving me challenges."

Other challenges undertaken by James have included giving blood, performing chores for others, and will be completing a marathon later in the year.

If you want to support James, he will depart from Llanymynech around 9am on August 23, and to donate, head to https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Bucket-List and for progress reports, you can view his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BucketList2019/