A group of Wiltshire Council workers are training to walk the 55-mile White Horse Challenge.

The 16-strong team will split the distance between members, walking as much as each can manage.

The White Horse Challenge raises money for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and is sponsored by the Wiltshire Times and sister paper the Gazette & Herald. It takes in some of the county’s White Horse monuments.

The event is on the weekend of July 7 and 8 and the workers, from the council’s adult social care team based in Chippenham, are planning to cover the entire distance of 55 miles.

One of the team, Dawn Beckett, an occupational therapist who lives in Chippenham, has a personal reason for supporting the air ambulance.

It flew her son, Chris, 19, to hospital after he was involved in a crash on the A429 at Hullavington last September.

She said: “There were concerns Chris had internal injuries and he was airlifted to the Royal United Hospital, Bath. He had a broken wrist and a bruised liver and he spent five days in hospital, but is fine now.

“You don’t realise how much one trip like that costs the air ambulance charity.”

Mrs Beckett is an seasoned distance walker, but some of her colleagues are less experienced. They range in age from 26 to 60 and one has motor neurone disease.

“People are going to be walking what they can,” said Mrs Beckett.

Entrants do not have to walk the entire 55 miles to take part in the White Horse Challenge.

There is a seven-mile route, ideal for families, on Sunday, July 8.

For more information, visit the walk website at www.whitehorsechallenge. co.uk