Puff the Bridgnorth Dragon and friends collect thousands with walk around major West Midlands football stadiums
A dragon, Sylvester the cat, Donald Duck, Mr Blobby, Batman and the Wolverhampton/Jamaican Bob Sled team have raised thousands after walking to five major West Midlands football stadiums for charity.
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Dana Power, from Bridgnorth, who has raised more than £100,000 for charity over the last 15 years through various challenges, usually dressed in his dragon costume, was joined by a number of costumed friends for his latest endeavour on Sunday (May 11).
The group took on a 21-mile trek to all five major football stadiums in the region.
Starting out at 6.30am outside St Andrews, the home of Birmingham City FC, the team of fancy dressed characters travelled the near-marathon distance to Aston Villa's Villa Park, West Bromwich Albion's home The Hawthorns, Walsall's Bescot Stadium and finally home of Wolves, Molineux, where they finished just before 2pm – all in 20C heat.
The stadium walk was being done in aid of the Stroke Association, after Dana lost a close friend to a stroke, but they had not planned on the weather.
“It was scorching,” said Dana. “We were absolutely drenched and had sweated buckets. It was so hot. I'm not sure which one of us had it worse – probably Sylvester, but we made it and it was well worth it.
“We'd raised more than £3,000 on our fundraiser and during the walk we had people come up to us and drop £20 notes into our buckets. We raised £360 on the day alone, which we'll add to the total.
“We collect outside the shop in Bridgnorth each week, so the fundraiser for the Stroke Association will stay active until the end of the year, and I expect we will smash our £5,000 target by then.
“I lost a very good friend to a stroke, so I wanted to do something to raise money for the association, but it was tough.”
Last year, Dana and his friends climbed Snowdon for charity, and decided to take on the football challenge this year, but Dana, who has run multiple marathons dressed as Puff the Dragon, had not expected how gruelling it would be.
“We could barely walk when we got to Molineux. We were drenched and so tired but we had tremendous support all the way round.”
to support Dana and friends' fundraising for the Stroke Association, visit justgiving.com/page/dana-power-1955.
