THE Chief Executive of Dorothy House Hospice Care, John Davies, has completed his 160-mile One Man and His Dog tour of its 28 shops in Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset and Wiltshire.

He met with local MP, Michelle Donelan, and members of the Bradford on Avon and Melksham Health Partnership’s Transforming Care for Older People team on Friday (November 2) before setting out on the last leg of his 16-day journey.

Mr Davies, 60, said: “It has been fantastic. Myrtle and I have met some lovely people along the way and I have had the opportunity to explain our new seven-year strategy to the local community.”

The tour launched DHHC’s ‘Everyday, Everyone’ plan for 2018-2025 to deliver outstanding palliative and end-of-life care across Bath and North-East Somerset, Wiltshire and Somerset.

Mr Davies and the Dorothy House team shared the hospice’s vision for the future, met with local people, businesses, charities and community groups and raised more than £3,450 to help fund patient care.

The tour started and ended in Bath and visited key towns in the Dorothy House Hospice catchment area. They included Keynsham, Radstock, Frome, Midsomer Norton, Shepton Mallet, Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Devizes, Chippenham, Malmesbury, Corsham and Bradford on Avon.

Along the way, the former Army major drank endless cups of tea and was accompanied by 65 people during his walk, clocking up around 160 miles.

In Bradford on on Avon Friday, he explained the new strategy to Ruth Randall and Amanda Brookes, and other members of the Transforming Care for Older People team, before embarking on the last leg along the Kennet & Avon Canal towpath to Winsley and then into Bath, where he stopped at The George pub at Bathampton, before visiting Dorothy House shops on the London Road and at Weston.

The tour ended with a celebration at the Pig and Fiddle pub at Weston in the evening.