WALKING THE WALK!

In my role at CWB, I lead on fundraising. That covers  corporate, local clubs and grants through to all the fantastic individuals who put in blood sweat and tears to raise money to support our work. Having been on a few projects, I know what it takes to extract people’s hard earned cash but I also know that it gets increasingly difficult to fundraise once you’ve been on a few trips and done a few challenges (I have endured half and full marathons for CWB).

Therefore, I needed to do a bigger different challenge to the raise the sufficient funds to support CWB’s work. The idea of walking from London to Birmingham popped into my head late last year, mainly because I was filling out a form with previous addresses in. Hailing from the mean streets of South Birmingham but now living in the East End of London I wondered whether I could combine the two. A bit of research and a few beers later, my mind was made up. I was going to walk between the two along the Grand Union Canal.

As time has crept closer, the enormity of the challenge has begun to dawn on me. I will be travelling the distance of six marathons in four days (I originally thought I could do it in three, before I was gently talked out of it). I will be doing around 290,000 steps in four days, and I’m likely to be walking for around 41 hours in total (if we keep up a reasonable pace). I say I…what started of as an individual journey has turned into a joint voyage, with Lee, Gary, Jamie and Carl from CWB all doing it. The fact that I have been joined by some of the key people in CWB shows the passion that people have for the charity.

As I thought more about the walk it felt like I had inadvertently stumbled on some of CWB’s fundamental values in the challenge. Walking is an activity that is accessible for most people. In this challenge there are many people who are dipping in for part of the journey, doing what they can. That really chimes with CWB; making sport and activity available for as many people as possible. It’s not a race, we just aim to finish it (without falling in the canal) and whilst there is often an competitive edge to CWB games, the key outcome is always about playing together, inclusively.

We have raised just over £1,000 so far for CWB, supporting our work in Africa and increasingly here in the UK. Obviously we would like more so anything you could give would be much appreciated. Also, we would love to hear from people fundraising for CWB and what their plans are. We’ve had so many innovative and interesting fundraising ideas over the years, its fascinating to learn about more.

As for my walk, we leave London at 6am on good Friday. We will stop at Berkhamsted, Milton Keynes and Leamington before getting to Birmingham on the Monday evening. I have a mix of excitement and dread whilst thinking about the walk; looking forward to seeing England’s waterways but dreading the blisters and aching. By us walking a few miles on a bank holiday, I hope the money can be raised to support the implementation of the values of the walk: inclusiveness, enjoyment and teamwork. Through these values we can make a big difference to hundreds of boys and girls lives, empowering them to make better decisions to look after themselves and their community.

Here’s to a dry Easter!

Written by Dave Terrace.

You can sponsor the walkers right here.