Walkers set to raise £27k for hospice

PEdwards

Last updated 01:00, Friday, 07 September 2007

Supporters of Hospice at Home expect to have raised £27,000 for the charity by taking part in a sponsored memory walk from the source of the River Eden at the top of Mallerstang Valley to its outlet at the sea at Rockcliffe.

Hospice trustees, volunteers and people whose loved ones have been treated by the charity took part in the walk, which was devised by former Cumbria High Sheriff Freddy Markham and Hospice at Home patron Lady Elizabeth Leeming.

The walk was spread over six days and took in Appleby, Kirkby Stephen, Winderwath, Lazonby, Wetheral, Carlisle and Rockcliffe, as the charity celebrated its 10th anniversary. Twenty-two people covered the whole distance and many more did part of the walk.

Prayers and the names of people whose lives the participants wished to remember were read out at the start of each day.

“It was fantastic and very moving. Everyone was so keen to take part. The hospice has touched enormous numbers of people,” said Mary Allcock, one of the organisers.

Walkers aimed to raise £100 for each mile of the 65-mile route, which would have raised £6,500, but they exceeded that. The total of £22,000, with another £500 expected, should rise to more than £27,000 with Gift Aid.

Janet Arnison, whose husband Charles died from cancer in April, also helped to organise the walk and Cumbria Classic Coaches provided a bus to take walkers from Kirkby Stephen up Mallerstang Valley.