EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Matty Ball walked more than 15 miles along the Thames to raise cash for a new building for his band.

Beginner cornet player Matty, pictured right, has collected £200 so far towards Wantage Silver Band’s £300,000 community centre on land at Tugwell Field, Wantage.

The Shellingford Primary School pupil walked from Farmoor Reservoir to Tadpole Bridge near Buckland on Sunday in the 27 degree heat with his mum Millie Ball.

Matty, from Priory Road in Wantage, said: “I wasn’t actually very tired. My legs and feet were aching a bit but it was very, very hot.

“It would be nice to be able to play in a hall that is not rented. The money is not much but everything counts.”

Mrs Ball, 43, added: “We walked 21km in boiling heat and in the end it was the heat rather than distance that got to him.”

Matty has been doing a longer sponsored walk every year since he was four and has raised more than £2,000 for different charities.

Wantage Silver Band has more than 160 members and has so far raised more than £150,000 for the project.

To donate visit www.wantageband.org/fundraising