Nursery teachers from Ayr walked 24 miles during the Edinburgh Kiltwalk to raise a fantastic £540 for charity.

Four teachers from The Meadow’s Nursery - Kirsty, Emma, Joanne, and Nicole - walked the ‘mighty stride’ to raise funds for the Whiteley’s Centre which provides free respite breaks and support to children with cancer and other life changing conditions.

Originally aiming to raise £200, the teachers succeeded their goal by over 150 per cent.

Kirsty said: “As a nursery we decided to fundraise for a local children’s charity, so the girls had decided it was Whiteley’s we were going to fundraise for.

“You just know that the people who are benefitting from your donations are so deserving of it.

“I said to the girls ‘we’ve got a day of paid but some of these children have got a lifetime’ with the pain they go through. It was 100% worth it.”

To train for the walk, two of the ladies participated in a walk spanning over 20 miles the week before.

However, Kirsty and one of the other teachers were unable to do any preparation beforehand and had to take on the challenging eight hour walk with no training.

Despite the difficulties, all the ladies managed to complete the walk together and quicker than any of them had expected.

Kirsty added: “I think we were only maybe about five or six miles in, and we had to stop and get plasters on our blisters. I also had a knee injury as well.

“I think we stopped at every single pitstop – you had all the portaloos and snacks and things to keep you going and there were small groups giving you words of encouragement which was great as well.

“When we got to the last three or four miles I was done at that point. It was like ‘I just want to be finished’ and my feet were in absolute agony. One foot was on fire and every step I took I could feel it. But I said ‘just get ahead and just keep going’ so we did it.”

For every Kiltwalk fundraiser, Sir Tom Hunter and The Hunter Foundation donate 50 per cent of the total, meaning charities receive 150 per cent of the money raised.

Walks are held across Scotland in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee.

The fundraiser will remain open until next week for any last-minute donations.

You can donate to The Meadow’s Nursery teachers’ campaign here.