A Barnet woman is preparing to tackle the Great Wall of China in a bid to raise money for deaf and dumb children.

Elizabeth Ford, 48, of Matlock Close, is part of a group spending two weeks in September walking 240 miles along the Great Wall in aid of the National Deaf Children's Society.

She saw the trek advertised in a newspaper a couple of years ago but her husband was ill with cancer, from which he later died, and she was looking after their three children, so she could not go.

Mrs Ford chose to raise money for children who have been deaf and dumb since birth after speaking to a friend, who was doing a sign language course.

She has raised £1,400 of the £2,000 she needs to participate in the walk. She plans to raise more on Friday with a party at the Wishing Well pub in Lytton Road, New Barnet, at 9pm.

July 9, 2002 17:00