AN Advertiser reporter is looking for sponsorship for a 450-mile, month-long walk to raise funds for a memorial appeal.

Chris Webber plans to walk from the site of Britain's oldest mine at Cissbury Ring, near Brighton, to Stanley. Any money raised will go to the Stanley Burns Pit Disaster Memorial Appeal.

It is hoped that a graveside memorial will be erected at the site of two mass burial trenches where 54 men and boys, who died in the 1909 explosion, lie.

A committee has been established in Stanley for the appeal and a design and final costings are being considered.

A total of £3,500 has been raised so far by The Advertiser, The Northern Echo and St Andrew's Parochial Church Council in Stanley. It is hoped to site the memorial in time for the anniversary of the disaster next February.

Chris, who covered the Derwentside patch before switching to Teesside, will begin his walk on Saturday, June 12, and hopes to arrive at the Durham Miners Gala on Saturday, July 10, before going on to Stanley the following day.

He said: "I've never done anything like this before. It's a bit scary but I'm looking forward to it and have been on a long-overdue fitness regime.

"The only disappointing thing is that I will have to cut back on parts of the walk through London and up to Cambridge because of time constraints. However, from Cambridge I will be able to walk every step of the way to Stanley."

Two memorials already exist to the 168 men and boys who died in the explosion but the graves of the 54 buried in the mass burial trenches, on council land behind St Andrew's Church in Stanley, have never been marked.

To pledge money for Chris's walk contact him on (01642) 675678 during office hours.