Lee Bird doesn’t want to make light work of a special fundraising effort.

So he is walking 80 miles along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal with an 80lb weight on his back.

“I want to push myself,” said Mr Bird, who is aiming to raise £10,000 for multiple sclerosis research through the trek and a community charity day.

As a fit and healthy man, the Wyke school caretaker reckons 80 miles in three days is not that tough. “So I chose to carry the weight in sand to make the walk that much harder,” said the 38-year-old.

The walk strikes a personal chord with Mr Bird, who works at Shirley Manor Primary Academy. He has lost a relative to MS, an aunt is battling the disease and a close friend is taking medication for the condition.

He plans to start the walk at Wigan Pier on May 22 and walk for three days along the canal route to arrive at the charity day in Wyke on May 24. A support crew will help and he will either camp out at night or find low-cost accommodation.

Alongside him will be one of his two dogs - his Jack Russell terrier, Kenny. “He will do the last day with me,” said Mr Bird.Helping to organise the charity event at Wyke’s Robin Hood Inn is his girlfriend, Rebecca Marsh. The couple plan to have music, majorettes, a barbecue and general family fun.

“The pub has been my local for around 20 years so it’s an ideal place to host the event,” said Mr Bird, who lives on-site at the school, where pupils are supporting the effort by designing posters advertising the charity day.

“I have set myself an ambitious target at £10,000,” said Mr Bird. “But whatever I raise, it’s money the cause would not otherwise have had.

“However, I am sure I can do it.”