COVID meant Dave Sheppard had to swap a spectacular coast run in the Gower for the Stourbridge canal, but the result was the same – loads of money and a great deal of weary muscles.

The former Norton councillor completed a 34-mile run from Bridgnorth to the Bonded Warehouse via Stourport and raised more than £1,500 for a Black County homeless charity.

After 24 miles the 61-year-old businessman was feeling brilliant having completed marathon distance and after 26 was still great after seeing his family and friends wave him on.

But at 28 miles he ran out of energy and had to dig deep to stumble over the line.

He kept up his motivation with the thought that the money being raised was desperately needed by Stourbridge’s one-woman support service Leslie’s Care Packages, who deliver food and essentials to needy families.

Indeed founder Vi Wood was at the finish line with a big bunch of flowers to say thank you to Dave for his stirling efforts.

Dave, who lives in Wordsley now, was the Lib Dem councillor for Norton for ten years until 2004 but when he lost his seat he took up running and is a member of Stourbridge running club.

He and a pal were planning the Gower run but when Covid cancelled that Dave switched to the canal run.

It was a ‘challenging’ 7-hour effort but all in a great cause. “Vi helps desperate people. She is an absolute angel of the community.”

On top of running Dave is a director of the Sponmech Safety Systems engineering company in Halesowen and is chairman of the Dudley branch of the Liberal Democrats.