YOUNG footballers put in a monumental effort as they stepped out on a charity walk in aid of a Dorset children’s hospice.

Members of the Dorchester Town Magpies Under-12s team took on a 16-and-a-half-mile walk from Hardy’s Monument to West Bay and are expected to raise more than £1,000 between them.

The majority of the sponsorship money will go to Julia’s House, with around £400 being used to fund the club for next season.

Coach and manager Craig Fournier said it took the team of 12 footballers supported by a group of parents around five hours to complete the walk.

The countryside trek included a lunch stop at West Bexington.

He said: “The walk went really well.

“They did struggle at the end because those cliffs really take it out of you but it was really good.

“It was really nice weather and everybody made it.”

At the end Mr Fournier bought the tired youngsters chips and sausages from the Traditional Fish and Chips kiosk in West Bay.

He said the kiosk owned by the Blake family kindly agreed to provide the food with drinks at half price as long as Mr Fournier donated the rest of the money to their charity fund.

Mr Fournier said: “They really looked after us and also sponsored us generously.”

Mr Fournier said the money raised in sponsorship was still coming in but he was confident the final total would be over £1,000.

He said: “My daughter’s raised £400 and another lad raised £200 on his own and there’s the money from all the others still to come in.

“It’s definitely going to be over £1,000.”

Mr Fournier said the plan had been originally to split the funds half and half between the club and Julia’s House but as so much had been raised and the club only needed around £400 for its funds he was hoping to be able to handover an even bigger cheque than expected to the charity.