NO ONE could guess that just six months ago Charlie Hawthorne was battling potentially lethal meningitis.

The beaming youngster spent two weeks in hospital fighting the brain disease after being diagnosed over the Easter holiday.

But after treatment one-year-old Charlie is now the picture of health and was one of 30 youngsters taking part in a sponsored walk event in Fareham to raise money and awareness of meningitis.

Organised by his mum Lorraine, Charlie and his three-year-old sister Bethany made the Toddle Waddle with friends from the Buttons nursery. The group set out on the one-and-a-half mile trip from where they are based at Abshot Road community centre to a harvest festival at nearby St John's Church. Each child wore a duck hat that they had decorated themselves for the event that was part of a nationwide campaign by the Meningitis Trust to raise the profile of the disease.

Lorraine said: "With Charlie we didn't know what it was at first we just knew he was very, very ill.

"It was an awful time while he was in hospital and diagnosed with meningitis. He is fully recovered now with no lasting affects that we can tell so we wanted to do this to raise some money for the charity."

It is hoped the walk will raise more than £300 towards the Meningitis Trust that last year raised £350,000 from Toddle Waddles.