I started my gardening business at 16 and now I'm walking 25 miles with my lawnmower

A teenager who runs his own gardening business is planning to walk from Runcorn to Manchester with a lawnmower for a very good cause.

On May 20, Connor Morris, 17, will start from his hometown, and walk the 25-mile distance to Manchester city centre with his grass cutter.

Connor’s grandad Jeff, 59, is the inspiration behind this cross-county journey. He suffered a stroke in February this year and Connor wanted to raise money for the Stroke Association, the charity who are helping Jeff in his recovery.

He said: “When he had a stroke he was in hospital for three weeks, and they’ve helped him through it. We basically do everything together.

“He’s doing a lot better now, obviously the Stroke Association is helping him out with everything that he needs. I think they are struggling with trying to get speech therapists because my grandad’s had to wait quite a bit “

Although his grandad is recovering, Connor still wants to give back and has set a target of £400, but hopes to raise more. He currently runs his own gardening business, Turf Masters, which he set up at age 16, and decided to combine the two into a fundraising event.  

He plans to start pushing the 15kg machine at 8am, and hopes to finish at 5pm. He clarified that the lawnmower will not be running, and hopes for sunny conditions.

He said: “I think I’m just going to do it by myself, but have someone pick me up at the end of it, because I can't be bothered walking back after nine hours. My mum and my sister and my nan all called me crazy!”

Because of his business, Connor is used to pushing a lawnmower around, but not like this. As he doesn’t drive, he gets to a lot of local gardening jobs on foot with the lawnmower. He said that is the only training he’ll be doing for the big walk, and added he’s quite fit already.   

Connor will be taking a day off work for the event, and added: “I’ll probably have to take a week off to be honest.”

You can donate to Connor’s fundraiser for The Stroke Association, via his GoFundMe page.