On call fire fighter and serving member of the British Army, Dane North, will make a 480km journey for Mind.

Dane will be walking the distance between his home at Carver Barracks, where he is actively serving in the Army, and his home village of Brotton in the North East.

He is undertaking this challenge to raise money for Mind, a mental health charity that provides advice and support to anyone who is experiencing mental health problems.

So far, Dane has raised £1,288 which pushes him nearly £300 over his target goal of £1,000.

He chose to support Mind due to his own struggles with mental health and after seeing one of their posters while he was visiting his daughter in the hospital.

He is planning to cover the 480km distance in only 10 days, starting on Friday July 1, only taking with him a back pack and sleeping outside.

Dane will be making constant updates during his journey through his Facebook page called Dane’s Walking Home for Mental Health, using Facebook live to communicate with those interested in his cause and posts about his daily routes.

He will be relying on the kindness of others to provide food and water for him while on route to his destination - to prove that you can get the help you need by speaking out.

Lorraine Melton, one of Dane’s colleagues, said: “We are really proud of him here at W84, our station callsign.

“Dane does a different fundraising challenge every year but I think this is the most ambitious so far.

“We are all sponsoring him of course but would love to spread his journey a bit more widely and help raise more funds for him.

“Dane is very modest and quietly helps with both local events and his fundraising each year, and is the first to volunteer to organise and take part in the extra community events we complete at the station alongside our firefighting role.”

Dane has said: “I would like to thank everyone for donating and sharing my page.

“Thank you to everybody who has stopped and spoke to me and I want people to know it’s okay to not be okay.

“It’s not a case of manning up but speaking out.”

If you would like to donate to Dane’s fundraiser, you can find it here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dane-north