Congratulations and thank you to the 144 participants (plus dogs in CRY t-shirts!) who took part in the 2nd CRY Durham Riverside Walk on Saturday 8th October 2011 to launch CRY Awareness Week ( 8th -16th October).
The numbers taking part this year were more than double those of 2010, thanks to the efforts of our supporters who actively promoted the event.
The walk was attended by CRY staff Rebecca Zouvani, Fundraising Manager, Becci Upson, Events Fundraiser and Tony Hill, Family Screening Manager. Tony kindly drove the CRY team and equipment/literature all the way from Surrey to Durham and back in the CRY van.
It was another drizzly (and chilly) start to the morning, but it did not seem to dampen the enthusiasm of our supporters, some of whom had travelled several hundred miles to take part.
Registration was held inside Durham Amateur Rowing Club. Participants checked in and picked up a balloon, then had a hot drink and 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 who took part walked in memory of a young person who they had sadly lost to young sudden cardiac death, including Kasia Ber, Ian Bowen, Naomi Dixon, James Edward Dougherty, Lezlie Elkington, David Elliot, Dean Henderson, Ian Johnson, Faye Linton, Leon Ashley Manners, Paul McGlynn, Levon Morland, Sarah Simpson and Lee Daniel Turner. This year we also had a team of 13 young walkers from the F.C Easington football club, walking with the Ber team, as well as a team from Virgin Media, Health and Safety, who travelled from London, Manchester and Cardiff, with their partners, to take part. Thank you!
Just before midday, once everyone had checked in, Rebecca Zouvani, CRY Fundraising Manager, made a short speech to thank everyone for coming and introduced Jeff Morland, who made a very moving speech about his own experience, following the loss of his son Levon and his support of CRY. Instead of a minute’s silence, the new CRY song, “Don’t Cry” composed by Steve Percival and recorded with the help of his talented friends and family, who all kindly donated their time, was played.
Everyone then made their way to the outside of the club to take part in a motivating and fun warm up, including some Zumba moves, led by volunteer fitness instructor Jane Rich, from Get Active, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
After photographs and press interviews, including photographs of John and Elaine Lawler, Honorary African Chief and Queen of a small village in West Ghana called Shia, dressed in their tribal wear, the walkers, some with baby buggies and toddlers, and their dogs set off on the walk, picking up a bottle of water, fruit juice and a cereal or chocolate bar on the way .
Following the beautiful River Wear, walkers had a striking view of Durham Cathedral. The autumnal colours of the trees lining the river bank provided a stunning backdrop for the walk.
After crossing Bath Bridge and breaking away from the river momentarily for a detour, the 7km route looped back around to finish at Durham Amateur Rowing Club, where each walker was welcomed back by Kenny and Maralyn Bowen, CRY Representatives, and presented with a certificate, feedback form and CRY wristband as a token of thanks from CRY.
The Rowing Club kindly opened the bar and provided delicious toasties and homemade scones ready for the walkers’ return, which was a very welcome treat! The club was full of smiling faces, and everyone seemed to enjoy the day. We would love to see everyone again next year and hope to see some more new faces too. We are hoping to hold the event on the 6th October next year, so please provisionally keep this date free. If you would like to know when a date has been confirmed for 2012 please email [email protected].
We are very grateful to the event sponsors Durham Amateur Rowing Club for providing a great venue at a discount and to Mark Bell and his team for making available drinks and delicious food; to Northumbrian Water for kindly donating the water; Joe Crow and Radflex for donating the chocolate bars.
Thank you to the following volunteers for all their help before, during and after the event by organising and attending meetings; promoting; driving; taking deliveries; pre-event telephone calls and emails; marshalling; designing and marking out the route; 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 a new event like this, so far from the CRY office, without the help of dedicated volunteers:
David and Debbie Anderson; John and Diane Ber; Kenny and Maralyn Bowen; David (Joe) Crow; Stewart Doyle; Mark Gilbank; Bruce Lowes; Aran Morland; Jeff Morland; Steve Percival; Jane Rich; Ted Philo; Carolyn King; Sheila at Durham Town Hall; Sue Burlinson at Durham County Council; Julie Slater at Durham Clayport Library; Mrs Elliot; Jean Johnson and Mr Tidbury.
We really appreciated the time and help of all of the volunteers and special thanks to Jeff and Steve for making it all happen.
Thank you also to the participants who kindly helped with media for the walk. This resulted in several pieces appearing in the press as well as local radio and TV interviews.
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 photos’. Please also contact [email protected] if you would like to be emailed any of the photos on these pages.
Photos by Doug Moody
If you would like to take part in an event like this for CRY, please see our upcoming events list
