Congratulations and thank you to the 218 participants (and some four-legged friends in CRY t-shirts!) who took part in the 4th CRY Durham Riverside Walk on Saturday 5th October 2013 on another mild and sunny day. The event has grown steadily since 2010 and the numbers taking part this year were the most ever.
As in the three previous years, it was a poignant yet positive occasion. As always, it was very moving to see everyone coming together to walk in memory of a friend or family member. However, it was also an opportunity for people to meet up with friends and CRY staff, as well as raising awareness of CRY’s ongoing work to help reduce the incidence of young sudden cardiac death.
The walk was attended by CRY staff Rebecca Zouvani, Fundraising Manager and Cara MacMillan, Events Fundraiser. Tony Hill, Family Screening Manager kindly drove the CRY team and equipment/literature all the way from Surrey to Durham and back in the CRY van. Tony was attending a screening event funded by the Sara Pilkington Memorial Fund at CRY on the same day as the walk, at Durham University’s new sports hall, The Graham Sports Centre.
Walkers began to arrive at Durham Amateur Rowing Club for registration and a welcome cup of tea or coffee and bacon rolls laid on by the club. Participants checked in and picked up a balloon and had a chat with each other whilst we waited for everyone to arrive. CRY staff, and photographer Doug Moody, took details and photographs for the local press.
Many people, some of whom have taken part every year, such as the Ber, Bowen, Anderson, Law, Morland and Percival teams, took part in memory of a young person who they had lost to young sudden cardiac death. This year participants were walking in memory of Kasia Ber, Ian Bowen, Dean Henderson, Leslie Elkington, Levon Morland, Sara Pilkington, Ashley Goodwin, Ian Johnson, Eleanor Keeler, Alan Porter, David Elliot, Kevin Paterson, Kevin De Silva, Mark Batson, Stephen Carey, Ian and Andrew Cooper, Michael Scott, Paul McGlynn and Edward Patrick Beatty. This year we also welcomed a team of 47 walking in memory of Stephanie McLean. Thank You.
Just before midday, once everyone had checked in, we assembled outside. Rebecca Zouvani, CRY Fundraising Manager, made a short speech to thank everyone for coming and introduced Steve Percival, who spoke about the walk and his support of CRY. He then introduced Carl Higgins, who kindly stepped in after the designated fitness instructor was unable to attend at the last minute. He led a very entertaining and fun warm-up. As one of the instigators of the walk, it seemed appropriate for Jeff Morland to officially start the walk.
After photographs, including press photographs, the walkers (some with baby buggies, and toddlers) and their dogs set off on the walk, picking up lemonade, a bottle of water and crisps on the way. Following the beautiful River Wear, walkers had a striking view of Durham Cathedral and the autumnal sunshine provided a stunning backdrop for the walk. They were able to pick up water and a chocolate bar en route, kindly distributed by Jeff Morland and Joe Crow. Mark Gilbank kindly provided First Aid cover but fortunately there were no medical incidents.
This year, following an extensive landslide, the route was reduced to just over 5K in distance. Each walker was welcomed back by CRY Representatives Kenny and Maralyn Bowen, and presented with a certificate and a feedback form. The Rowing Club kindly opened the bar and provided delicious panini and cakes for CRY staff and the walkers on their return. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day and most people stayed outside with their food and drinks, making the most of the sunshine.
We would love to see everyone again next year and hope to see even more new faces too. We are hoping to hold the event on the 4th October next year, so please provisionally keep this date free. If you would like to know when a date has been confirmed for 2014 please email [email protected].
We never forget that most of the walkers who take part in the ‘Durham Riverside Walk’ do so for a very personal reason – and all of us at CRY appreciate their tremendous effort and courage in taking part.
We are very grateful to the following companies and organisations for their support of this event:
- Durham Amateur Rowing Club for providing a great venue at a discount and to Mark Bell and his team for making us so welcome.
- Northumbrian Water for kindly donating bottles of water.
- Radflex for donating chocolate bars. This donation was secured by David Crow.
- Tesco, Durham Market Place for donating vouchers enabling us to buy crisps.
- Tesco Extra, Dragonville for donating chocolate.
- Co-operative Food, Sherburn for donating crisps.
- Angel Inn, Crossgate for providing entertainment in the evening and for making a donation to CRY.
Thank you to all our volunteers for their help before, during and after the event – organising and attending meetings; promoting; driving; taking deliveries; pre-event telephone calls and emails; marshalling; marking out the route; assembling packs; distributing walk leaflets; providing first aid cover; registering walkers; inflating balloons; warm up; handing out water, chocolate bars, certificates and forms; and clearing up. We really couldn’t run an event like this, so far from the CRY office, without the help of dedicated volunteers:
Deborah Anderson; Dr Antony Bash; Mark Bell; John and Diane Ber; Kenny and Maralyn Bowen; Sue Burlinson; David (Joe) Crow; Jack Doyle; Sheila Fox; Mark Gilbank; Janice Gilson; Linda and Geoff Goodwin; Terry and Don Granner; Alan Hayman; Danielle Headley; Carl Higgins; Jeanette Hyde; Allison Johnston; Amanda Law; Jeff Morland; Wendy Moss; Steve Percival; Ted and Emily Philo; Janette Pollard; Julie Slater and Jen Stravghan.
And to:
- The participants who kindly helped with media for the walk. This resulted in several articles appearing in the press.
- Special thanks must go to Jeff Morland and Steve Percival for once again helping and making it all happen.
We hope you like the photos. If you participated in the walk and took photos which you would like to see included here, please send them to [email protected] with the subject ‘Durham Walk 2013 photos’. Please also contact [email protected] if you would like to be emailed any of the photos on these pages.
Photos by Doug Moody
