Hardy juniors aged seven to 11 accompanied by staff and some parents set out in gloomy, overcast conditions to walk the six and a half miles along the former railway route from St John's School back to Braddan.

A lunch break at Marown school saw the children sheltering from the rain as they ate packed lunches before regrouping for the final push to the finish.

Younger children from key stage one, aged four to seven, joined the rest of the school at Marown after lunch to complete the remaining two miles back to Braddan.

En route the children collected markers to represent each parish on the Parish Walk with the younger ones getting tokens to represent the route to Peel and the older ones the whole 85-mile course. The markers were arranged in reverse order ending with Braddan.

A balloon-bedecked finish line awaited the walkers with the first arriving back on schedule at 2.45pm celebrating their success with fortifying refreshments of juice and goody bags for the children or tea and cakes for the adults.

A total of 73 walkers set out in the morning from St John's School and were joined by a further 50 children at Marown.

Bridson Halsall sponsored the event by supplying high visibility vests for the walkers. Organisers were also grateful to Telecabs for supplying transport for the children.

Money raised by the walk is to be divided between Friends of Braddan School, who organised it with the help of head teacher Louise Oates, and the MSPCA.