A Cumbrian three-year-old is on a mission to climb 12 Wainwrights in 12 months to help fight poverty in Cumbria.
Grace Bradunas, aged three, of Flimby, is climbing 12 of the Wainwright fells in a mission to raise as much money as possible for No Rainbows Without Rain – a Workington based charity that helps Cumbrian people in need.
The youngster’s mum Miriam Johnston and dad Ellis Bradunas will join her on her walks, which she will tackle once a month.
Over the course of the year, Grace will climb Binsey, which she completed on Sunday, Sale fell, Loughrigg, Castle Crag, Walla Crag, Little Mell Fell, Catbells, Dodd, Ling Fell, Low Fell, Hallin Fell and Latrigg.
It’s a challenge inspired by both Grace wanting to be part of fundraising for the charity, which her mum volunteers for, and a special small act of kindness from a stranger.
Miriam said: “Me and Ellis are not big fell walkers, I know a lot of people might we must be to do this, but that’s not the case at all!
“It all started on the day before New Year’s Eve. It was very spur of the moment and we just said come on, we’ve been sat in the house too long, let’s go up Dodd.
“Grace struggled a little bit near the top because it’s quite a big one, but a man walking past us stopped and chatted with her.
“He said to her, ‘do you know about ‘top biscuits?’ and he gave her a biscuit out of his bag and it gave her that little boost to get to the top.
“She skipped all the way down and was so proud of herself and she kept going on about top biscuits, so I said to her, well if you want to get more top biscuits, you’ll need to get to the top of more hills and that’s where it started.”
Both Miriam and her mum Jill have been volunteering for No Rainbows Without Rain since August last year and last year Miriam took on a firewalk to help raise money for the charity.
Grace got to watch her mum take on the walk and also watched some of the New Year’s Eve sea dippers in Whitehaven – which Miriam said left Grace wanting to join in.
Miriam added: “Grace said to me, I want to do something, why can’t I go in the sea, why can’t I walk on fire, and I said well you’re a little bit young for that!
“But with the top biscuits and her wanting to do some fundraising, I thought well maybe we can just combine the two.
“So we sat down and we looked at different pictures of fells and kids at the top of fells and she said yep, I want to do it!”
Grace climbed Binsey, her first fell of the challenge, on Sunday, and Miriam said it was a special day for everyone who went along to support them.
She added: “We did it with a couple of the lasses from No Rainbows Without Rain and bless my mam, she’s 72 and she came up as well.
“She said to me ‘I never thought I’d walk a fell again’ so it isn’t just about the challenge, it’s so nice just bringing people together.
“Grace walked the whole way up Dodd and Binsey herself and shared her biscuits with everyone at the top and we were sharing the story of the man who gave us a top biscuit with anyone who’d listen.
“But it’s so good for mental health to get out on a walk, so we’re trying to encourage people to come with us as well.”
Miriam said Grace’s walks will take place once a month with the date moving every month, depending on weather conditions.
Each walk will be shared as an informal event on No Rainbows Without Rain page to give people the chance to join in and the family will bring a pink donation bucket on the walks – at Grace’s request.
Grace has already raised £320 and the family are hoping to raise over £600 by the end of the year.
Miriam added: “Everyone is welcome, we’re not responsible for anyone’s safety of course, people have to look after themselves, but we’d love people to come along.
“We’ll be going at a three-year-olds pace and if we have to take breaks, that’s fine!
“But we’ve set up a GoFundMe and Grace keeps asking me at bedtime, so how much mam? She has no idea about the numbers really, but she knows it’s getting bigger!
“She also said she wanted a pink charity bucket, so she’s got a pink charity bucket! But Grace is familiar with the charity anyway because of me and my mam’s volunteering in Workington in HQ.
“So she understands that the charity helps people and that side of it, which is really cute.”
No Rainbows Without Rain helps people facing poverty in Cumbria by providing essentials like food parcels through its non means tested community pantry, clothing, and household essentials.
It is entirely volunteer run and the team deliver their essentials like food parcels all across Cumbria from Barrow right up to Carlisle.
The charity also runs a Secret Santa appeal, where it provides presents and dinners to families in need of support as well as vulnerable or isolated people.
This Christmas alone, the charity supported over 1,300 people and since the charity was first established in 2024, it has raised over £98,250.70p all in the name of supporting people in need.
Miriam added: “We had the pleasure of being asked to do some of the deliveries for the Secret Santa appeal and for as many presents we handed out, we had hugs and tears, it was a beautiful thing and so nice knowing mams and dads could take a breather over Christmas.
“But our HQ is such a nice and welcoming place, everyone there has there stories and everyone supports each other and they’re all really rallying behind Grace, it is so amazing.
“It was that little bit of kindness on Dodd that her up there and it’s just spiralled since and it’s brilliant.
“But I think, as long as my kid is kind, nothing else matters, that is number one to me. I don’t really care if she does really well at school or if she’s a multi-millionaire, as long as she knows how to look after other people, I’ve made it as a mam.”
You can donate to Grace’s fundraiser here.
You can keep up with Grace’s adventures on Instagram and join in by keeping up with No Rainbows Without Rain on their Facebook page here.
