FORGET "Out Of Africa"! One Fylde fund-raiser is planning to go into Africa for a 300km trek -- on a bike!

Kerry Jones, a cardiac rehabilitation manager at Poulton swimming and fitness centre, Breck Road, is hoping to saddle up for a marathon ride across Tanzania to raise £3,000 for cerebral palsy charity Scope.

Kerry, 24, who lives at Clayton-le-Woods, near Leyland, saw the Scope bike-athon advertised in a newspaper and jumped at the chance.

"I just thought it would be a challenge, that it would be exciting and I wanted to do it for the fund-raising aspect," she said. "I have worked with children with cerebral palsy in the past so I know what support they require. I am aiming to raise £3,000."

To get her started, her employer, Community Leisure Services Ltd, which runs Images health studio at Poulton, has sponsored Kerry to the tune of £300.

A car treasure hunt is also planned, as are quiz nights, car boot sales and a sponsored walk down Blackpool Promenade at the end of August.

And she is hoping kind-hearted individuals and businesses across The Fylde will sponsor her to help her meet her target. "I have to raise the money by the end of November this year," she added.

The intrepid explorer is also training hard, cycling up hill and down dale and tackling three or four training sessions a week.

"I am doing a lot of cycling, and my legs are really feeling it! Sometimes when I'm training on my bike and I'm going up a hill I wonder what I have got myself into," she laughed.

She said her mum Margaret, a community health worker who has also worked with people with CP, was "a bit shocked" when she told her about the bike-athon but was backing her efforts, along with family and friends.

Providing all goes well with the fund-raising and the training, Kerry will begin her nine-day Tanzanian trek from the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro on January 20 next year. "I'm really looking forward to it. We will be sleeping in tents under the stars," she said.

And as far as she knows, Kerry is the only person from this area taking part in the bike-athon. But she said: "There are 75 other people from around the country taking part too, so hopefully I'll meet up with them all at a get-together before we go."

Anyone who wishes to sponsor Kerry can contact her by telephone (07968) 528342 or e-mail at kezzor2k@hotmail.com