Boy, nine, completes festive midnight march for Bristol Children’s Hospital

Barney Thomas, from Bristol walked past monuments including Big Ben and Tower Bridge. Credit: Darren Thomas/PA

A nine-year-old boy has completed a 12-hour midnight march around central London to raise money for Bristol Children’s Hospital.

Barney Thomas, from Bristol, finished the challenge on the morning of 23 December, joined by his father Darren Thomas and his godfather Bradley Hackett.

The trio walked around central London from 6pm on Friday to 6am on Saturday, in aid of the hospital, which treated Barney.

The 'midnight march' was the family's fourth fundraising venture for the hospital and its connected charities after Barney was born with two holes in his heart.

Barney and his relatives have raised more than £1,700 for Bristol Royal Hospital for Children with their latest fundraising challenge Credit: Darren Thomas/PA

Barney had an operation when he was 11 months old to seal the holes and since recovering has given back to the hospital with various fundraising challenges.

Barney said the hardest part of the challenge was having sore feet but added he felt 'joyous' when seeing the fundraising total, which has reached more than £1,700 so far.

He said: “I feel tired but proud that we’ve done it – I feel joyous. My feet hurt and it was a little bit tiring, but it was ok.”

The trio set off from London’s Paddington station on Friday evening, walking to places such as Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Tower Bridge before catching the first train home on Saturday morning.

Barney's dad, Darren Thomas, an operations manager for Network Rail, said Barney fell asleep within 30 seconds of sitting down on the train home.

He said: “When we got back to Paddington I saw we were really close to the goal of £1,500 – when we got back to Bristol we had hit it and I had a bit of a tear in my eye.

Barney said his feet hurt after the walk but he was feeling ‘joyous’ about the money they had raised for the hospital Credit: Darren Thomas/PA

“I was really elated by the whole thing, I felt chuffed.

“I look back to when he (Barney) was really ill when he was little and now we do this every year, it’s something to always look forward to,” he said.

Barney used a GoPro camera to film the entire walk, creating a timelapse which Mr Thomas later posted to Instagram.

Barney's Dad Darren added: “It was so motivating to see how many people had donated, we didn’t expect to raise that much.”

The family's efforts are shared to their fundraising page.