Seven-year-old walker raises £1,700 so far for lifeboat

Ben Masson with the current Severn-Class Lerwick lifeboat Michael and Jane Vernon.

RNLI fundraiser Ben Masson from Lerwick completed his week-long walk yesterday (Friday) and smashed his target to raise money for the charity.

Ben, aged seven, set out on 17th July and aimed to walk 21.1 miles on the streets of Lerwick, the equivalent distance between the Lerwick and Aith lifeboat stations.

Having averaged over five miles each day, his total distance completed today was 42.3 miles – just over twice the distance between the town and Aith.

Ben completed his walk at 5.10pm on Friday – the same time as the “17-10’” service number of Lerwick lifeboat – and arrived at the station to a noisy reception from family, friends and lifeboat crew.

His father Grant Masson and his grandfather John Best are both volunteer crew members on the Lerwick lifeboat and along with other family members, accompanied Ben each day during the past week during his walks.

Ben set out to raise just £100 for the RNLI from his walk. But donations made on his JustGiving page have so far reached over £1,700.

Lerwick Lifeboat operations manager Malcolm Craigie said: “Ben’s a total superstar and we’d like to say well done for his incredible effort, walking twice as far as he had planned to.

“The RNLI is a charity that exists entirely on donations to help us save lives at sea and on behalf of all the crew we’d like to say a huge thanks to Ben and his family who have supported him.”

Donations can be made at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bensshetlandlifeboatwalk