A group of St Helier Hospital midwives have smashed their £10,000 fundraising target after walking ‘non-stop’ around the Isle of Wight.

Team ‘One More Push!’ will soon decide on what to buy for their maternity ward following the 67-mile – or 107.8km – trek on the International Day of the Midwife.

Mary Willocks, who has been at St Helier Hospital for more than 20 years, felt a ‘high of total euphoria’ after completing the Isle of Wight Challenge.

She said today (May 15): “It was brilliant, it was absolutely brilliant. At times we hated it and we wanted to come home but we just dug deep and we finished it.

“We compared it ourselves to giving birth. We were excited and nervous before the birth, which was our walk.

“During the walk – or during the birth – we wanted to go home, we thought we’d had enough and at some point we wanted to stop, we didn’t like it anymore.

“Then once at the end – at the finish line – when we’d had the baby we were saying, ‘That wasn’t so bad and I might do that again next year!’”

It took 37 hours during bank holiday weekend on May 5, in sweltering heat, as £11,125 has now been raised at the time of writing.

The team of midwives, now nicknamed the ‘Isle of Wight 11’, received continuous support from colleagues on St Helier Hospital’s labour and maternity wards.

One of the members, Hollie, has shaved off her hair which will now be made into wigs for children with leukaemia, an effort which will be combined with the overall total.

She added: “Because our colleagues back on the ward were working, delivering babies, the stuff that we do every single day, we were walking for the ward.

“They were backing us so much and we had all of their support. It was just even better doing it on the International Day of the Midwife, to have our colleagues’ support as well, it was just absolutely brilliant.

“We’d love to thank every single person who has donated because it’s been really important, people have been so incredibly generous.

“It’s been amazing.”

Funds are still being raised.

You can still donate to the JustGiving page here.