This weekend, we were supposed to be walking to Barnsley in support of Joseph Kendrick. A 58 mile, three day walk over the Pennines to raise funds for the life limiting condition, Non-Ketotic Hyperglycinemia.
We cancelled early as it felt the right thing to do, but as time has passed and this horrible virus has taken hold of the nation and indeed the world, well it would simply be impossible and illegal to even try. It is a real shame for all those who put tremendous work into organising it, those who have offered support and those who have already generously helped raise funds before the walk got postponed.
We are of course committed to trying to get the walk up and running. But, me I’m a bit daft sometimes, also a bit impatient and also as one of the ambassadors of the charity, it is my duty to try and raise the profile of Joseph’s Goal by considering creative ways to raise money. So, with this in mind, myself and several of the other “walkers” are going to do the miles anyway this weekend and walk to Barnsley anyway. Virtually of course.
I will aim to stay true to the walk mileage and do each leg in succession, maybe provide some pictorial accompaniment and clips on my social media feed. I may do some actual walking outside (within the guidance) but my new best friend is my under desk stepper machine. I was in a work office in Liverpool a while back and noticed one of the staff had a mini bike and a stepper under their desk and as a frequent WFH’er it seemed a great way to get a bit of movement whilst chained to a desk all day.
I have done no prep for this at all. The only upside is that the stepper does record steps a bit quicker than walking, probably because I am taking smaller up/down steps rather than forward ones. It seems pretty easy but I’ve never been on it for more than fifteen minutes at a time. Fifteen minutes is about the length of time it takes me to cover a mile. Or 2,222 steps if you prefer, so I have measured the number of steps I need to do to cover each leg in the spreadsheet below.
I am doing it to raise funds, raise awareness, have a laugh, probably annoy my family and keep the momentum going for Joseph’s Goal. As a charity it has already lost its two major annual fund raisers in the walk and the Legends Charity game. The annual ball may also be in doubt.
Joseph and every old child with NKH are on the vulnerable list for COVID-19 and time does not stand still in the search for medicine to improve their life limiting condition.
However, I also understand that money is very tight and uncertain for nearly all the country so I am not going to go overboard with the begging bowl. If you can give a few quid then great. If one person donates over the course of Easter Weekend, then I have raised a bit of awareness.
And I won’t be demanding sponsorship again (too much) when the walk is eventually rearranged. I’ve generally got enough to do keeping 100 others in check!!
So thank you for reading, thank you for your support and here is that link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/martin-tarbuck1
You can follow me:
on Twitter: @mudhutter
on Facebook: Martin Tarbuck
on Instagram: @jimmymudhutter
or on My Space at…sorry I forgot
Have a lovely, safe Easter weekend whatever you do. I will be mainly sweating!
Final P.S.: we are not taking registrations for the revised walk yet but we would love to hear from you if you are interested in taking part in future at walk4joseph@gmail.com
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