BONE marrow donor Gordon Taylor is set to embark on a marathon canoe trip to raise money for a charity close to his heart.

Gordon, aged 48, will paddle his home-made canoe through 42 locks and over 100 miles to a folk festival in a bid to raise £1,500 for the Anthony Nolan Trust leukaemia charity, along with his friend Kevin Barlow, aged 39.

Gordon, of Shawe Park Road, Kingsley Holt, said: "If doing this inspires one more person to sign up for the bone marrow register, then the trip will have been worthwhile."

The mechanic is on the register himself and, five years ago, was found to be a suitable match for a leukaemia patient.

Gordon said: "If you've got children you see what other people's children go through and you just want to help.

"I had a letter saying that the girl I donated to made a full recovery. You don't find out much about the person the cells have gone to, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it again."

The fund-raiser and his friend will travel from Sandon to the Cropredy Folk Festival, near Banbury, via the Trent & Mersey, Coventry, and Oxford canals in the canoe that Gordon made in the workshop of DC Car Repairs, in Draycott Cross Road, where he works.

Gordon said: "Cropredy is a folk festival we go to every year and last year we had a play about in a dingy there, then it just escalated.

"We thought 'Why not go there in a canoe?' This is before we looked at the distance. And when I looked at the map, I thought 'Why not do this for charity?'"

The 16ft long and 3ft wide canoe is made from marine ply and ash wood and took Gordon four months to build.

He said: "I wanted to build something pretty stable. If we'd had one of the long, slim, sporty canoes, we'd have been upside down by now."

Both men will carry all the food, supplies and camping equipment they need with them.

The journey will take four days each way and Gordon and Kevin will be spending three days at the festival.

Gordon said: "Since I finished the boat in February, we've been out most weekends.

"The pair of us are new to canoeing but we've taught ourselves and we're now quite confident."

Friend Kevin, who lives in Uttoxeter Road, Draycott, is impressed by Gordon's fund-raising and has now nominated him as a Charity Champion in The Sentinel's Our Heroes awards.

Kevin, who works as a landscape gardener, said: "It was my idea to do the canoe trip and Gordon's idea to do it for charity. It helps to raise funds for a charity that's close to his heart.

"Neither of us are experts, this is new to us both. I don't think Gordon had ever been in a canoe before he built this one."

Gordon and his wife Patricia have three children – Charlotte, aged 28, Matthew, aged 27, and eight-year-old Ellie.

For details on how to become a bone marrow donor, call The Anthony Nolan Trust on 020 7284 1234.