Man walks 500km for charity after back injury

Gurmeet Sidhu, a physics teacher from Gravesend, woke up in 2023 with a back injury

A Kent man has trekked 310.6 miles (500km) for charity after he was told he would struggle with day-to-day tasks following a back injury.

Gurmeet Sidhu, a physics teacher from Gravesend, woke up in March 2023 with his back "locked" and was told by doctors he would need spine surgery, but began walking in a bid to ease the pain.

As his condition began to get better, he took part in a 13-mile (21km) charity walk which inspired him to continue trekking for men's health charity Movember.

"It gave me hope. I thought, now I've done 21km, I'll do more and then spread a message for all my young students and all my colleagues and friends that it is possible. We can do it," he said.

Gurmeet Sidhu has been given Movember's Going the Distance award

The teacher has raised more than £1,000 for Movember through donations that mainly came from his current and former students, he said.

"This is because of them [my students], because they inspired me," he told BBC Radio Kent.

As a result of his fundraising efforts, Mr Sidhu, who is also known as the "Walking Singh", has been given the charity's Going the Distance award.