Isle of Wight walk

CLIC Sargent's Colchester and Tendring Committee recently held a sponsored walk around the Isle of Wight, which saw 12 intrepid walkers and volunteer driver, Sheena raise nearly £5,000 to help children with cancer.

Karen Roberts, CLIC Sargent’s Community Fundraising Manager for the East, gives the low down on how the challenge went, as little did they know what was in store!

“The journey started well on the Wednesday and we even managed to board an earlier ferry across the channel.

“On arriving in the Isle of Wight we commenced our walk and headed off from Cowes to Newtown – breaking ourselves in gently with a mere seven miles.
“Our volunteer driver, Sheena delivered lunch to us en route and collected us at the end of the day to take us back to our hotel.

“The next day we were all rearing to go, following a hearty full English breakfast.  We walked from Newtown to Totland, taking in the beautiful scenery and starting to feel quite confident that we could finish our challenge.

“However, Friday saw the weather change rather dramatically. The force eight gales and horizontal rain did their best to try and stop us – even the sheep had disappeared and the cows were hiding in the woods! Despite the rain feeling like needles being poked into your face we managed to climb West High Down. We all felt a great sense of achievement and even the weather started to improve after lunch.

“Unfortunately for one walker things were about to take a drastic turn.  We were all climbing over a style ready to descend some steps and cross over a field – something we had all done many times already – when Alan slipped, tried to regain his balance but fell with an almighty crack on his wrist.  Lesley jumped into action and made a fabulous contraption out of her water bottle carrier, a towel and a pair of socks that Blue Peter would have been proud of. Sheena was called and role changed from dinner lady to ambulance driver.

“Joking aside, unfortunately Alan was in a lot of pain and spent the next two days in hospital only emerging when the surgeons had transformed him with external pins into Metal Mickey.  His humour and banter were greatly missed over the next few days and everyone took extra care going down the steps.

“Saturday saw a mild improvement in the weather – force seven gale and rain!

“Myself and one other member of the team are scared of heights, so we saw some steps that disappeared over the edge of the cliff, we were terrified. 

“However, with encouragement from our team and a little trepidation we succeeded.  The sight of Sheena coming over the horizon in the minibus was wonderful.  We all felt a great sense of achievement in beating the elements and walking the 18 miles from Brightstone to Shanklin.

“Sunday passed without incident! Both the weather and the gradients improved and we were able to collect Alan from hospital. All that remained of our challenge was a gentle eight mile stroll on Monday before returning home.

“This was my first physical charity challenge and I would highly recommend it.  We had awful weather and regretfully Alan’s injury but that made it a greater challenge and I hope everyone would agree that they enjoyed themselves and were proud of their achievements.  The camaraderie was tremendous with everyone keeping each other going through the difficult stages.

“Most importantly we hope to have raised nearly £5,000 for CLIC Sargent. This money could be used to fund a CLIC Sargent Play Specialist for two months and for a family to visit Malcolm Sargent House in Scotland, to take a break from the trauma of treatment.

“I am sure we have all taken away many memories and I would like to thank and congratulate everyone who took part to help children with cancer.”

Karen Roberts, Community Fundraising Manager – East, CLIC Sargent top of page