By Isle of Wight Observer
More than 4,500 people – and over 450 dogs wearing special edition bandannas – will be taking part in the 35th Walk the Wight on Sunday.
The full route covers 26 1/2 miles, from Bembridge to Alum Bay, but there are shorter options, including two half walks, an eight-mile flat walk and a schools’ walk.
The first Walk the Wight, in 1991, was actually a team-building walk, organised by Bill Bradley and Frank Stevens for 25 colleagues, from H.W. Morey’s, a local timber and builders’ merchant.
The second year attracted 120 participants, raising funds for both an MRI scanner and the Earl Mountbatten Hospice (now Mountbatten).
Now, the walk includes fun and challenges, and raised an incredible £500,000 last year, desperately needed funding to keep the hospice running.
Mountbatten Isle of Wight needs £10 1/2 million to operate each year, and only one-third is funded by the NHS – a sum which has not risen in line with inflation and even that money is under threat.
CEO, Nigel Hartley, who is retiring in October, said last year: “At Mountbatten, there has been a 250 per cent rise in people receiving care at home in recent years and this is set to rise further. The government says it is committed to moving healthcare into the community. It says the palliative and end-of-life care sector, including hospices, will have a big role to play in that shift.
“But we are now in a critical situation. Is this the beginning of the death of the modern hospice movement?”
Walk the Wight is also part of the Island’s annual Walking Festival, which starts tomorrow (Saturday), with one of the highlights a six-mile walk between Tennyson Down and The Needles. It continues until May 18.
Each day there will be several walks, starting all over the Island, with some longer than others. For full details visit the Isle of Wight Spring Walking Festival Facebook page.
