T'was a walk in the park

Well, after months of talking about it, weeks of annoying people on twitter, facebook and this very blog asking for donations, it finally became the time for me to do my sponsored walk.

For anybody who doesn't know..
I signed up to take part in something called the 'Starlight Hike' (10km) to raise money for a hospice which 12 years ago took care of my mum in her final days and I have always felt indebted to them. The hike was a good way to try and raise some cash Wheatfields Hospice in Headingly, Leeds. Unbeknown to me, I was the first man EVER to sign up (Always been female only in previous years), so it turned out to be a bit of a big deal. I didn't do this alone. A colleague of mine, Donna, also agreed to do the walk and help me raise some money


ANYWAY.....
Donna and I arrived as requested about 10:30pm and after dropping of some donations of clothes and stuff at the designated place we got down to business of preparing for the walk. This consisted of two things, a cup of coffee and getting our face painted.

Some people who know me won't believe me but I am a pretty shy guy who doesn't like attention being on him, so it was really bad that while queueing for our blue and yellow stars to be painted on our face, the lady on stage warming the crowd up, actually announced me to EVERYBODY. Needless to say, I gave a little wave, after all, I didn't need to make a big deal, thanks to Donna shouting, waving and pointing to me, everybody knew it was me she was referring too!

The walk started at midnight, on the dot and everybody set off at a decent pace. The walk was dark (Took place at Temple Newsam in Leeds) but the organisers tried to light the place up as much as possible.

I actually found the walk easier than I thought I would, but I think Donna's small talk got me through it. The hills were hilly and the mud was muddy, but we got through it in a not too shabby time of 2 hours and 5 mins. We were welcomed back over the finish line with a big cheer and were presented with a goody bag, a stale bacon butty and a hot drink.

Needless to say, I was very proud of myself and very proud of us for raising so much money for a great cause, so a big thank you to everybody who donated and a massive thank you to Donna who without her, I wouldn't have made it through the walk so easy and would have raised as much money as we did.

The Sue Ryder charity who run the hospice ask each person to raise £120. This would be enough money to cover one nurses shift, we managed to raise (As I type this) a massive £937.50!!

So thank you AGAIN and if you still haven't donated and want to help us raise more, please click here and give anything you can!

As always Thanks for reading
FTD