A church minister from Barrhead is set to take on a huge challenge in aid of a worthy cause.

Tim Mineard, the minister of St Andrew’s Parish Church, is planning to walk the West Highland Way within 36 hours for Scottish charity Friends of Kings’ Norton Foundation Uganda.

The 50-year-old, who is originally from Huddersfield in Yorkshire, along with his friend Andy Reid, who is the Mission Officer for Clyde Presbytery of the Church of Scotland and a former international athlete and Royal Marine, will be walking the well-known route from May 18 at 6am until May 19 at 6pm.

Starting off at Milngavie, the pair have broken down the route into stages and will be meeting with their support team at different points along the way.

The West Highland Way is a 96-mile walking route in Scotland which goes from Milngavie to Fort William.

However, the charity which Tim is completing the challenge for is one that is close to his heart, due to him being the treasurer.

It aims to raise funds to enable the work of Kings’ Norton Foundation Uganda, providing education and support to children with disabilities in the capital city of Uganda.

Back in 2000, Tim and his wife Fiona spent a year in Uganda.

He said: “My wife and I were there with an organisation called Mid-Africa Ministry, my wife’s a midwife, so we worked with a clinic there and I did some youth work.”

While his wife was working in the area, Tim said his work was formed off working in rural communities doing AIDS education and visiting schools.

Tim said: “It was quite isolated at that time.

“But it was an amazing experience and a real sort of eye-opening experience.”

When in Uganda, Tim and Fiona met Wilber Sabiiti, who is now a doctor at the University of St Andrew’s.

He said: “While we were out there, we met a chap called Wilber Sabiiti and we helped to fund him through university and things like that.

“He’s now set up this charity with his family, supporting children with additional support needs and disabilities in Uganda."

To prepare for the challenge, Tim and Andy have spent the past few months training and recently completed a 50-mile overnight walk from Crianlarich to Fort Willian within 17 hours.

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