A hardy schoolboy has worn SHORTS every day for a YEAR – to raise enough money to send his granddad to the seaside.
Generous Zane Donaghy, eight, hasn’t donned a pair of trousers for the past eleven months in a bid to fund the special outing – even cutting the legs off of his pyjamas.
The eight-year-old, from Stoke Gifford, South Glos., has already smashed his £500 charity target, raising three times his original goal.
He started raising money on January 1, buying seven new pairs of shorts and altering his existing bottoms.
The youngster also boosted the total by charity bag packing visit at a local Morrisons and organising a coffee afternoon at a church.
Zane said: “I just wanted to do something nice and send my granddad and his friends to the seaside.
“I like wearing shorts but not when it’s freezing cold outside.
“I have worn shorts in the wind, the rain and even in the snow – I have to do it to give my grandad the trip of a lifetime.
“I’m most looking forward to putting on a pair of cosy pyjama bottoms in January 2020.”
Zane came up with the heartwarming idea after visiting New Zealand.
While there, he decided he wanted to find a way to get his grandad Douglas Oram and his friends to the beach.
Douglas has been a resident at Brunelcare’s Deerhurst Care Home in Bristol since May 2018, where he receives full-time support for frontotemporal dementia.
He is visited by his wife Sheila twice a week, to whom he has been married to for 63 years.
Zane tries to visit as often as he can alongside his mum, Lucy.
Douglas, 85, said: “I’m so very happy that myself and my friends can all go to the seaside for the day next summer.
“We are really looking forward to it. I think we’ll have fish and chips and maybe even an ice-cream for dessert.”
Zane has received overwhelming support for the cause, with his short-wearing even being accepted at his school.
Mum Lucy, 44, said: “I’m so proud of him for thinking of others and wanting to do something nice for someone else.
“He has been so brave, wearing shorts in the rain and snow. He’s really sticking to it and he’s so determined.”
Zane is keen to continue fundraising in 2020 and is already looking into ideas for him and his friends.
To donate, visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/zanewearsshorts2019.