Six-year-old boy vows to walk in the footsteps of his hero Captain Sir Tom Moore with his own charity event in the Harborough district

An extraordinary six-year-old boy from a Harborough village is vowing to walk an amazing 100 miles for Captain Sir Tom Moore’s charity this month after being fired up by his hero.

Toby Taylor is venturing out to walk at least four miles every day in snow, rain and sun in deepest winter after telling his mum Sarah – I want to support the Captain Tom Foundation.

And the remarkable youngster from Bushby has already almost tripled his £250 target as he puts his best foot forward for Captain Tom.

The fundraising legend died on Tuesday February 2 aged 100 after the Second World War veteran generated almost £33 million for the NHS as he walked 100 lengths of his garden.

Toby’s mum Sarah, 28, told the Harborough Mail: “We are just so proud of Toby.

“He is such a brilliant little boy – he’s good as gold and an absolute star.

“And now Toby’s taking on the challenge of a lifetime – and it’s all thanks to the one and only Captain Tom.”

The mum-of-two said fitness enthusiast Toby had already racked up 35 miles walking last month – and starts every day with a 20-minute PE work out before tackling his English and maths.

“Toby’s always kept a very close interest in what Captain Tom has done over the last year helping to inspire us all through these very tough times,” said Sarah, who also has a four-month-old baby son Albie.

“I told him last week that very sadly Captain Tom had passed away.

“I could have cried because he suddenly shouted out to me ‘I want to walk 100 miles mum because Tom was 100 years old’.

“Toby said he was going to walk a mile for every year that Captain Tom had lived.

“I just said ‘wow’!

“So I decided that we had to do it properly so that we could raise as much money as possible for the Captain Tom Foundation,” said Sarah, a teacher at Bishop Ellis Catholic Primary School, Thurmaston, where Toby’s a pupil.

“So we have set up a special Facebook page and a gofundme page.

“We go out walking at about 12.30 every afternoon what ever the weather.

“I push Albie along in his pushchair and we head out to Houghton or Thurnby Lodge.

“We stay local, of course, during the lockdown and we explore all sorts of different routes crisscrossing the area as we have a good old chat along the way.

“I use MapMyRun on my phone to measure exactly how much we clock up.

“We aim to do at least four miles a day – although we ground out seven miles over two and a half hours last Friday.

“My husband Reece often comes along as well and we’re loving it.

“Toby has picked out the shortest, coldest month of the year to carry out his challenge!

“But he can’t wait to get out the front door and hit the road – he is so strong mentally and physically.

“He looked out of the window this morning, saw the snow and he was so excited he was champing at the bit to get started,” smiled Sarah.

“Toby’s already raised £715 and we’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our family, friends and supporters who have got behind us.

“We can’t under estimate the size of the challenge facing Toby.

“He’s only six for goodness sake.

“But he’s so determined, tenacious and resilient as well as being so compassionate – and when he puts his mind to something he always does it.

“We are just so incredibly proud of Toby.

“He said that Captain Tom was his hero.

“Captain Tom was an inspiration, he’s inspired Toby to walk a staggering 100 miles – and now Toby is inspiring all of us himself every single day of the week.”

You can check out Toby’s Facebook and fundraising webpages here: https://www.facebook.com/Tobys100in1/Ore visit: https://gofund.me/10a91a57And you can visit the Captain Tom Foundation website here: https://captaintom.org/