DIDCOT’s charity legends the Thong Rangers dug deep to raise more than £500 for four-year-old Leanna Cheshire, who suffers from cerebral palsy.

Three Thong Rangers, led by binman Clifford Oakes, completed a 12-hour spade walk on Saturday to raise funds for Leanna’s family.

From noon until midnight the fundraisers walked on spades up and down Broadway, the town’s main street, while a team of Rangerettes used buckets to collect donations from shoppers and passing traffic.

Mr Oakes, 48, from Park Road, said: “The sun was blazing down, so we had to put on lots of suncream.

“I was fine at first, but after about three hours my back started to get tight and my hamstrings were hurting, but it was well worth it for little Leanna and there was brilliant support from her family, about 35 people came along.

“It was quite hard to walk on the spades and towards the end I fell off a few times.

“We got a great response from members of the public and I think we raised about £500, although we may have raised more.”

Leanna’s mum, Sarah Frampton, 28, from Didcot, said: “Leanna can’t walk or talk and has learning difficulties. She can understand us, but can’t communicate.

“We want to buy her a special car seat with a base that swivels, but it costs £1,700.

“We are so grateful to the Thong Rangers for going to such great lengths to raise funds for us.”

In May, the Thong Rangers pushed heavy concrete blocks in a wheelbarrow almost 20 miles from Didcot to Oxford.

They were raising funds to help pay for prosthetic limbs for three-year-old Oxford girl Charlotte Nott, whose limbs were amputated below the joints after she contracted meningitis.