ILKLEY friends Jack Hanson and Patrick Godden recently walked the 65 mile length of the River Wharfe collecting 152kg of litter along the way.

Jack and Patrick are members of the Ilkley Clean River group and covered the length of the Wharfe to raise awareness and funds for the iWharfe campaign. So far they’ve raised over £2,000 of their £3,000 target to fund civilian water testing of the river.

“The Wharfe, like most rivers in the UK, is heavily polluted. Not just with litter, which people carelessly toss into it, but by the raw sewage which is discharged by the sewage plants along the length of the river,’” said Patrick. “As local lads who grew up with the Wharfe as a backdrop to so many good times, when we realised the extent of the problem we knew we had to get involved.”

To push towards the rest of their fundraising goal and continue raising awareness they plan to walk another 200 miles from the end of the Wharfe, in Cawood, to London.

“The Wharfe isn’t the only UK river suffering from these issues so we want to raise awareness across the country. We’ll be walking to London via rivers like the Ouse and the Trent collecting waste as we go,” added Jack.

The pair set off on Monday on their 10 day trek, walking 20 miles a day to London.

Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore who recently met the duo added: “It was great to meet Paddy and Jack to hear about their fundraising activities. They are both very determined people who want to make a positive change to both the local community and nationwide.

“Cleaning up our waterways is vital to preserving the biodiversity of our streams and rivers – much of which is covered in the Government’s new Environment Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament.

“Paddy and Jack are undertaking a monumental task walking 200 miles from Yorkshire to London – on top of the 100km walk along the River Wharfe which they did earlier this month. I wish them every luck with this mammoth challenge and I look forward to welcoming them on their arrival to London on 26 May.”

The Wharfe Walkers’ can be tracked online - @WharfeWalkers (Twitter and Facebook) - and at JustGiving (https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/wharfe-walkers).