Following the success of CRY’s inaugural Heart of London Bridges Sponsored Walk in 2007 the event took place again in 2008, with over 600 CRY supporters in attendance.
The walk, led once again by CRY Patron Kathryn Harries, started at Victoria Embankment Gardens and ended at Hays Galleria near London Bridge.
The route involved crossing 8 London Bridges – Golden Jubilee, Westminster, Hungerford, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Millennium, Southwark and London – with each bridge representing one of the eight young sudden cardiac deaths that occurs each week in the UK. We hope to raise at least £80,000 from this event.
Participant Wayne Griffiths rounded up everyone at the bandstand for a welcome speech by CRY Founder and Chief Executive, Alison Cox. This was followed by Kathryn singing a couple of beautiful songs, despite having had very little sleep the previous night.
Kirk Douglas, a personal trainer and nutritionist, then led the entertaining and motivational warm up. This proved extremely popular with everyone.
It was another emotional day, particularly for the vast majority who were taking part in memory of a young relative or friend.
There were also a number of people who were taking part because they felt it was a good cause and wanted to support CRY; and some participants who were supporting young people who had been diagnosed with a heart condition.
As well as the personalised back signs provided by CRY, some families also chose to have photographs printed on their T-shirts.
The walk was in memory of all the young people who have died suddenly due to undiagnosed heart conditions, but participants on the day were particularly remembering the following people:
Philip Abraham; Georgie Bagnall; Iris Bagnall; Ray Bagnall; Mathew Blease; Katrina Brown; Robert Burns; Andrew Cannon; Frank Carber; Tom Clabburn; Charlie Curtis; Ryan Darby; Fred; John Lawrence Dick; Megan Dicken; Rajan Singh Dosanjh; Adam Drawbridge; Andy Forbes; Elsa Giquel; Ted Goodyear; Leanne Haddrell; John Paul Hawkins; James Norman Ashley Hill; Will Holden; Jonathan Hooper; Kira Huckle; Lisa Johnson; Matthew Kamis; Prof Pat Rachael Langley; Tasha Liddle; Martyn Luckett; Jack Maddams; Jonny Malpas; James “Slim“ Markham; Nigel Masterman; Wayne McCormack; Hayley Jane McDonald; Charlie Morettes; Orlaith Murphy; Paul Parker; James Patrick Patterson; Christopher John Razey; Jake Riley; Alex Roberts; Sharda Sharma; Jon Shaw; Laura Ann Side; Sarah Simpson; Kevin Smart; Nicola Swaysland; Paul Sykes; Gareth Llewellyn Thomas; Dylan Christopher Thompson; Scott Thurlow; Hannah Turberville; Dan Vavasour; Carl Wiggins; Matthew Wilkins; David Williams; James Wood.
In addition, some of the walkers stated that they were walking in memory of Dad, Daddy and Mum.
Once again we had teams and individuals from around the UK and Ireland taking part to raise awareness and funds for CRY.
CRY would like to say “well done” and “thank you” to Kathryn Harries for leading the walk; David Walliams for agreeing to sign a letter to the press inviting people to take part; and to all the participants who made the event such a successful and positive day.
We would also like to thank the following companies and organisations for their sponsorship and support:-
Westminster City Council (especially the events team and the Victoria Embankment Gardens Parks Office); St Martins Property Consultants and CB Richard Ellis Management Services for donating Victoria Embankment Gardens and Hays Galleria; Foresters for sponsoring the event and providing goody bags; Chubb Insurance for help with securing Hays Galleria and for making a donation to cover all the drinks on they day as well as the staff and volunteer refreshments.
Thanks as well to all CRY staff who helped with admin and on-the-day support for the event, and also to the following volunteers who helped with marshalling, distributing drinks, making the punch, picking up and delivering drinks, registration, handing out certificates and inflating balloons:
Martin Appleby; Nicky Appleby; Helen Armstrong; Adrian Buckland; John and Pat Dennington; Colm Dolan; Kirk Douglas; Arti Giani; Mark and Marcia Hearne; Jim and Barbara Holland; Jo Packard; Paul and Christine Rumley (and Jess, their border terrier puppy); Koula Louki; Priyanka Sharma; Natasha Suggit; Paul Vickery; Dave and Sue Walton; Gerry Wright.
Thank you to all the participants who agreed to help with media coverage. Thanks to everyone’s help we were able to secure two national newspaper articles and 76 regional articles.
We are very pleased with the number of post-event feedback forms received – 138 forms so far, on behalf of 250 participants. If you have not sent your feedback form to us yet then it is not to late and we would appreciate you sending this to us as soon as possible.
If you have any questions about the 2008 CRY Heart of London Bridges Walk please contact CRY’s Fundraising Manager, Rebecca Zouvani, by e-mailing [email protected] or calling the CRY office on 01737 363222.
The walk was supported by Westminster City Council,
St Martins Property Corporation, Chubb Insurance Company of Europe and Foresters.
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“Foresters is an international financial services organisation which has operated in the UK, US and Canada for over 130 years. We are committed to understanding your financial needs and to offering products and membership benefits, which will assist you with your financial security and peace of mind.
Last year our worldwide charity work involved 800,000 hours of community involvement, which helped to raise over £26 million for worthwhile causes with Foresters members and employees assisting more than 400 local charities. We measure our success not only by financial strength, but also by the positive impact we have on our members’ communities.”
