Paralympic gold medallist Danny Crates joined staff and supporters from Sainsbury’s Eltham to ‘Pound the Streets’ for Freddie Farmer on March 11 in a sponsored walk to raise funds.

Seventy walkers, including the Mayor of Royal Greenwich Jim Gillman and Mayoress Janet Gillman and Eltham MP Clive Efford, took part in the 2.8-mile fund-raising walk to the Sainsbury’s store in Chislehurst for the Freddie Farmer Foundation.

Seven-year-old Freddie Farmer completed the trip in his electric wheelchair and got the biggest cheer of all when he made a short speech over drinks and biscuits at the end: “Thank you!”

Danny Crates, who represented Britain at three Paralympic Games and won gold in the 800 metres in Athens in 2004, presented Freddie with a copy of his book, Danny Boy, and told everyone: “The foundation is a fantastic local charity and I’m sure today will add greatly to an already successful campaign.”

Marissa Arnold, HR manager at Sainsbury’s Eltham, said: “We adopted the foundation as our charity for a year and the turnout today shows how popular it is with local people. It really is a very good local cause.”

As official partners of the 2012 Paralympics, Sainsbury’s were delighted to get Danny Crates to make the walk with Freddie.

“I was stunned by the number of people who turned out today,” said Jim Deegan, Sainsbury’s manager at Chislehurst. “We’ve known about Freddie for some time and we’re delighted to be involved in the campaign with our colleagues from Eltham.”

The event has raised over £2,000 for the Freddie Farmer Foundation, including a £50 donation from The Mayor.

Danny Crates’ book ‘Danny Boy’ will be sold at £20 through the foundation website with £5 from each copy going to the charity.

The Freddie Farmer Foundation, a registered charity, was formed a year ago to set up a specialised physiotherapy centre in SE London for children and young people with cerebral palsy and serious mobility problems. Freddie Farmer was born at 28 weeks with cerebral palsy, weighing just 2lb 12oz.

Find out more at www.freddiefarmerfoundation.org.uk .