A team of intrepid roller skaters aim to cover 1,500 miles across Europe in aid of a bone marrow charity.

Three energetic Basildon brothers will be embarking on the incredible roller skating expedition through eastern and central Europe as part of a team of seven.

The project, called Freedom Roll, organised by eldest brother Paul Chapman, of High Road, Fobbing, aims to raise £15,000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust. He will be joined by younger brothers Kenny, 22, a residential social worker and Mark, 19, who is at college in north Essex.

Charity skate : brothers Mark, Kenny and Paul Chapman and Michael Lofthouse are preparing to roll across Europe for a bone marrow trust Picture: ROB BROWNE

They will also be teaming up for the potentially rocky roll with Michael Lofthouse, 26, of Kingswood, Basildon.

Paul said: "It will be very, very hard and not just because of the miles, but also the surfaces.

"We will be taking six sets of wheels each as they will burn down very quickly."

Mr Chapman came up with the idea for the eight-week adventure while on an astonishing solo expedition in 2000, during which he cycled from the Atlantic coast of West Africa to Timbuktu on the edge of the Sahara desert.

The 1,500-mile roller skating trip, starting in Slovenia, will pass through nine countries on route back to London.

Some of the countries the team will be skating through on the adventure include Croatia, Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Holland.

The Anthony Nolan Trust maintains the UK's largest register of over 333,000 potential volunteers willing to donate their blood stem cells should their tissue type match that of a patient in need of a transplant to help fighting leukaemia or related diseases of the immune systems.

Published Monday, April 21, 2003

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