By Mal Butler
The latest ‘crazy walk’ to raise awareness for domestic abuse took place at Alum Bay on Sunday. The ‘To Be In Her Shoes’ charity walk was first launched nearly three years ago by Peter May, owner of Fort View Tyres in St Helens. His speciality is completing walks across the Island, and on treadmills, in high heeled shoes, raising nearly £25,000 from his many efforts.
The walk on Sunday started from the Alum Bay car park, and went up to The Needles Old Battery and the New Battery and rocket-testing site.
Peter was joined by pal, Dave Darcey, who struggled after breaking one of his heels on the trek up the hill to the Battery.
Peter said: “Dave had to take a break half way up when his heel broke. I don’t think he realised how steep it was going to be. In the end he needed my wife, Dawn’s, mobility scooter to get him to the top!
“Once we were there, we spent one-and-a-half hours on a treadmill; it was just sheer stupidity!
“The point of doing a walk at The Needles was to hand out leaflets promoting the Hollie Gazzard Trust App. Hollie was murdered by an ex-partner in 2014, and the charity helps reduce domestic violence through creating and delivering programmes on domestic abuse and promoting healthy relationships to schools and colleges.
“Because the weather was good, there was a lot of footfall, so we were able to hand out around 600 leaflets. We also raised just over £250, which will enable us to purchase 15,000 leaflets, for the Hollie App, to be distributed during Domestic Abuse Awareness month in October and the run-up to Christmas events.
“We’d like to thank the National Trust for their support during the day to make it such a success.”
Isle of Wight Observer