Siblings raise £50,000 for Norwood walking from Bournemouth to London

James, Robbie and Natasha Bernard's marathon effort launches the Alan and Rochelle Bernard Memorial Fund in memory of their parents, killed more than 10 years ago by a drunk driver

Three siblings have raised a remarkable £50,000 for the Jewish charity Norwood by covering the equivalent of five marathons in five days in honour of their parents who were killed by a drunk driver ten years ago.

James, Robbie and Natasha Bernard walked from Bournemouth to London last week to launch the Alan and Rochelle Bernard Memorial Fund, starting from the spot on the south coast where their parents died in 2010.

“The tragedy of losing our parents in the way we did left a cloud over all of us,” said Robbie. “For years, we found it difficult to talk about. This Memorial Walk was our way to eclipse that tragedy and replace it with something positive and meaningful.”

He added that the trio saw this as “a new chapter” with the memorial fund “a springboard to celebrating our parents’ lives in a positive way”, while explaining that the five day hike did them all good psychologically.

“The walk broke down mental and physical barriers for me and my brother and sister. Even though we were of course thrilled to see the finish line, in many ways we didn’t want it to end.”