VETERAN celebrities Richard Baker and Geoffrey Palmer welcomed a team of walkers, whose age averaged 73, as they finished an 86-mile charity trek in St Albans.

The seven-day walk, which started in Hastings, raised almost �4,000 in aid of the national charity Abbeyfield, which provides residential care for elderly people and is based in St Albans.

The team of 15 walkers, made up of Abbeyfield residents, staff and supporters, were congratulated at the finish line by former broadcaster Richard and actor Geoffrey who toasted the walkers with celebratory tea and champagne at the charity’s head office in Victoria Street.

The walkers were aiming to raise money to purchase a new minibus for Abbeyfield residents.

n The St Albans office recently took part in a nationwide initiative to encourage staff and residents to be more environmentally friendly.

Abbeyfield staff were discouraged from printing all day, turning on lights was forbidden for an hour, and items were donated to Oxfam’s Chequer Street shop.